Chuck Taylor, My Best Friend
10:00 PM Posted In fashion Edit This 1 Comment »Something that is important in my life is a pair of shoes I own. They are Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars, low tops, in black. I have had these shoes for seven years, since about seventh grade, and they have been through a lot with me. I know it's not normal for a person to have an emotional attachment to a pair of shoes, but they have been with me for so long that they have become like two best friends that I take everywhere with me. 
When I first got these shoes, they were brand new. The laces and rubber were a pristine white, the black canvas clean and stiff. But seven years of wear and these shoes have certainly seen better days. The once white rubber is now a grayish-blue, stained from the dye of blue jeans, and filthy from wearing them in the rain and the mud. The once immaculate black is now faded and spotted with mud, and torn, in some spots, away from the rubber on the sides. The laces are frayed and dark grey, blemished with black from the metal grommets. What once read "ALL STARS" on the heel now only reads "RS." They are falling apart, but I see their sorry state as a badge of honor, a sign of their high ranking in my shoe collection.
Nearly every time I wear them, I get a desperate plea from my mother to abandon these shoes. She's even bought me a new pair in the hopes that I will throw the old ones away. I could never part with these sneakers; they have been with me through thick and thin. I wore them to my 8th grade graduation, the first day of high school, and on graduation day. They have been with me through tests, getting my driver's license, the SAT, and stood with me in front of dozens of classrooms as I nervously stumbled my way through speeches. I have met new friends and lost old friends in these shoes. They have been on countless airplanes, walked their way through Disneyland, marched along the marble floors of our nation's capitol building, and climbed up 276 meters to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Nearly everywhere I have been in the past seven years, these shoes have tagged along.
But these are so much more than a pair of old sneakers. They represent a large portion of my life. They are most of middle school, all of high school, and a portion of college. These shoes are me. Their gradual decomposing is my gradual maturing. How could I possibly cast aside something so dear to me, something that represents my life in such a way? I can't, I won't.
And so I continue to wear them. This proves to be extremely difficult in the winter months, as the numerous holes allow rainwater to seep in, and the inside of the shoe is worn away to the skeleton, devoid of all fabric. I suppose that they will soon reach a point where I cannot wear them at all, in which I will retire them, probably to the back of my closet, forgetting about them; a thought I cannot bear to think. But I know the new pair I have waiting for me, so pristine and perfect, will serve to be just as good, another pair that I can store my memories in, another pair that will be there for me no matter what.
Listening To: Sweet Jane by The Velvet Underground
1 comments:
Aw Bree. This can actually apply to so many things in life, your last paragraph is maybe unintentionally very metaphoric. haha.
I think that is very cool, it's like your lucky pair of shoes that you have with you everywhere. I don't have items so special to me.
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