i hate having to get new shoes.
Understand that i tend not to do that all that often. i've got a few pairs, one dress set that i can polish up for interviews, funerals, weddings and occasional bar mitzvah. Those sit in a box undisturbed until i have to put on a suit and grumble my way through whatever. i've got two pairs of dock-siders for inexplicable reasons. i've got a pair of boots i wear out in the yard, keep in the garage, and knock the scorpions out of whenever i need to. i've also got a pair of sandals for summer, but they no longer count as it's no longer summer.
Usually, i have just one pair of shoes, though. Those are the shoes i'll wear damn near all the time and can usually be found in. Provided they don't suffer significant structural failures.
That's what happened to my last pair several times in a row. The good thing is that i bought them at REI, which has a fantastic return policy. (If you bought it there, you can return it. Can't really beat that.) So having had two structural failures in a pair of light hiking boots, i decided to branch out and not get the same failure prone pair.
i now have a pair of dressier, more work shoes. Of course, they're complete with nice thick clod-stomper soles on them that promise to grab hold of whatever i happen to be trodding upon (a HUGE bonus for me because i'm a massive klutz). Anne Marie likes them because they look more presentable than what i normally wear. Win all around, right?
Well, no, of course not.
See, they fit very differently than the boot i was previously wearing. Meaning that i need to "break them in", which either means the shoe or my foot giving in to the constant pressure and adjusting. i also now need to get a bunch of "grown up socks" since my previous choice no longer fits quite as comfortably.
Mind you, i'm fully aware that half the population tends to have the opposite mindset regarding footware. i can only guess that this is part of some internal requirement for penance and suffering that i'm unfamiliar with.
"Beware of any venture that requires new shoes" the most notable proprietor of Walden Pond wrote.
Screw that.
"Beware of new shoes."
