5 dec 2012

when i was in 8th grade, my algebra teacher said - "i can tell a lot about a person just by looking at their shoes." you know how some things that people say just stick with you? why is that? anyway, the shoe comment struck me and stuck with me.

it struck me because in 8th grade, my shoes were a mess. i was in the second year of a doomed-from-the-beginning all-girls-prep-school experiment, and the shoes which had been purchased at the beginning of 7th grade and worn every school day since were a bit worse for the wear. due to the doomed nature of the experiment, i would not be getting any more of that particular sort of school shoe.

back in the day, i did that thing where you walk too far to the outside of the shoes... pronate? supinate? i have no idea, but it tears the upper shoe away from the sole on the inside, like where the joint of the big toe meets the foot? is any of this making sense? does it even matter? i remember having tape wrapped around the left shoe. did i really? maybe? whatever. the shoes were a mess.

so i walk into Super Advanced Maths For Brilliant Students and the teacher goes - "i can tell a lot about a person just by looking at their shoes." but she says it in a nice way, you know? like, she's not hinting there's anything wrong with my shoes, per se, just saying she can tell, you know? like, maybe she could tell i was on my way out, by looking at my shoes? or, that i was a tomboy, a poor person, a supinator, that i didn't give a fuck about my damn saddle oxfords?

fast forward a billion years to now. i think about that teacher and what she said about shoes every time i am shopping for shoes and most times that i am putting shoes on. she says it one time, and i think about it all the all the all the time. talk about staying power, jeez. i rarely have the right shoes, generally do have comfortable shoes, often have poorly maintained shoes. what does any of that say about me?

recently, i went shoe shopping and came away with a really great pair of shoes. they fit well, they are stylish and sporty, they are well-maintained (um... new). when i put them on, i think about ol' mrs hoover, and i wonder what she'd be able to tell about me, by these shoes.