For almost 35 years, I commuted to work. My first few years I was a happy walker, which was good. I lived in Midtown and couldn’t afford public transportation anyway. Back then a subway token (yes, there were actual tokens) were a buck a pop! But still too rich for my lowly salary. So since walking was my method of transport, shoes were critical. So whatever suburban folks were spending on cars, I rationalized that I spent a pittance of that for my commute, but on my footwear. And those miles did add up.
At my first two jobs, I reluctantly admit that I wore the thick slouchy socks with white leather Keds and changed into work shoes at the office. But after that second job, I found more comfortable options for all day workwear and stopped with the switcharoo.
Two of my favorite boots of all time I wore in the early 2000s. One was a short bootie with an almond toe, totally nondescript, black, comfy and a total workhorse. The other was a taller version of that staple with an ornamental velcro patch at the top of the zipper. I wore both pair completely flat. As they both had rubber soles attached to the base of the boots, there was no way to rehabilitate them. So after enormous ROI and many many years of continuous use, both got tossed. So imagine my utter shock when just recently both were re-released. It must be a bootie rennassiance!
So even before the floor models made their debut, I marched in with screenshots asking to try on my old standbys. Miraculously they had my size in both options. And of course they both fit perfectly. And just as I slipped into the tall ones, a woman about my age clad in athleisure walked in and gasped, “I used to have those! OMG.” She quickly snapped a photo and sent it to her husband exclaiming that he wasn’t going to believe that THOSE boots had been reissued. But she didn’t ask for her size. Wasn’t the least bit interested in retreading those memories and carrying them forward. Just a snap and then she was onto a good looking pair of loafers that caught her eye. Meanwhile I was knee deep (literally!) in nostalgia for my old corporate life.
The sales associate that was helping me quickly realized that I was daydreaming of lunching with pals, a packed calendar, pipeline meetings, and my younger years all wrapped up in those boots. She cleared her throat enthusiastically to jolt me back into the present. I slid out of them and back into reality. My current life does not necessitate ANOTHER pair of black boots. I still have a few new ones on deck from last season that I swore I’d wear and have yet to see the sidewalk.
