The Shoes

During my recent trip to San Francisco, I noticed that the beat-up, decrepit, raggedy shoes I was wearing told a fantastic story of travel, adventure, and romance. The Shoes were purchased in the autumn of 2004, in October, if memory will back me up here. It was a time of change! Of revolution! My sophomore year of college was underway and my old pair of shoes were overworn. And so it came to pass, that on an overcast October afternoon, I found my way to the University Park Mall in Mishawaka, Indiana to buy this pair of K-Swiss.

They were good shoes. Comfortable, well-liked, always had something interesting to say at parties. Even my girlfriend approved! Since then, these Shoes have seen quite a bit. Some highlights:
-University of Notre Dame (a number of football games as well)
-Chicago, IL
-Denver, CO
-Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, NE
-Iowa (some gas station)
-Dallas, TX (airport)
-Las Vegas, NV
-Ohio
-Pennsylvania
-New Jersey
-St. Louis, MO
-Grand Rapids, MI (Weezer/Foo Fighters concert)
-New York, NY
-Southern California (LA, SD, OC)
-San Francisco, CA
-Phoenix, AZ (2006 Fiesta Bowl, too)
-London, Bath, Stratford, Canterbury, Dover, Oxford (UK)
-Paris, France
-Dublin, Galway, Waterford, Kilkenny, Shannon, Ring of Kerry (Ireland)

Now, with the soles worn through, the heel indistinguishable from air, and the brilliant white color now turned a grayer shade of shale, I feel the time has finally come for their permanent retirement (which I had previously attempted twice only to be tempted back into wearing them). Plus, my girlfriend isn't too keen on their manginess. These shoes carried me across bridges, heaved me up the Eiffel Tower, steadied my foot on slippery slopes in Ireland and Golden Gate Park, gave me hope where there was fear, circled me around many a block in many a city, and now sit at the foot of my bed, ready to be entombed. Thank you, Shoes, from the bottom of my weary soles.