I recently started wearing a different pair of shoes when I left the house. It just became freezing cold here in LA. I think it’s been around 70 during the day and then dropping to a glacial 45 at night so I’ve had to put aside my barefoot, slip on, kind of slimey cuz I’ve been wearing them for 7 months straight with no socks shoes for a more robust lace up kind of vibe. Maybe it’s time for my desert boots with some socks? I approached my closet to select the new seasonal pair, opened the door with the optimism of a new world to come and as I laid eyes on my sparse collection of boots and shoes I was over taken by a strange sense of sorrow. I peered down upon my collection. My beat up pair of chukkas. My desert boots. The old flip flops in the corner. My combat boots, as though they had been to battle and lie on the floor shell shocked and motionless from lack of use. My boxing shoes covered in dust. The Converse from my wedding crying out to be worn out to a fantastic dinner. Just waiting to be brought back into action yet never knowing when any of them would ever be worn again.
Each pair use to have purpose and would go with me on different adventures into the world before all social activity was ground to a halt. Now, all of them, of no use. Unless you want to go run a couple errands and maybe go to the grocery store, you’re SOL. The closet sits as a dejected ghost town of footwear akin to The Island of Misfit Toys (google it if need be, youngsters). I began feeling a bit sorry for myself and all of us caught in these times of shutdowns and distancing. Each pair of shoes a reminder of how things use to be and all the things that we can’t do anymore… at least for a while more. And then…like a jolt… I realized that it’s Thanksgiving week! This is the time to be grateful and reflect upon the good fortune that we’ve had, regardless of where we stand now. This closet was no longer a ghost town! It was a trophy case! It’s a reminder of how fortunate I am to even own a pair of shoes, let alone 8. I have a pair of shoes just to box with. I had Converse custom made for my wedding. I live like a goddam king!
We all get down about things we don’t have or can’t do in these weird ass days we’re living and that’s totally normal. There’s good days and bad days but … if you’re reading this on your computer or phone, have a roof over your head, food in your house, running water at your finger tips and a body that gets you around pretty good, you’re in the top 10% most fortunate people on this planet we all share. Everyday should be fucking Thanksgiving. We forget what’s right under our noses sometimes when the glory days of what was overruns the reality of what is. We are the lucky ones and we’ll put all those shoes on again someday. Stay healthy and Happy Thanksgiving.
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