Life is Like a Shoe Box
“I’ve worn lots of shoes.”
– Forrest Gump
As I am writing this I am sitting in my old worn leather chair with cracked leather on the arms. I am wearing a Polo t-shirt with the front pocket torn off… the pocket being the victim of a 2 am wrestling match outside of a friend’s house after I questioned his wife’s moral fabric. We are still buddies and I still wear the shirt not as a memento but because it is comfortable and I never used the pocket any way. I have on a beat up pair of khaki shorts with the extended waist in case I eat too much or I have a need to scratch. On my feet I am wearing my Bush Nunn leather boat shoes without socks of course. I have owned these shoes for 15 years. I wear them every chance I get. Not because they are nice looking shoes… they haven’t been nice looking for over a decade… but because they are comfortable and as much a part of me as anything I own.
As Forrest Gump said: “You can tell a lot about a person by the shoes they wear… where they going… where they been.” This particular pair of shoes has done its share of walking. When I first bought them I would wear them to work only on Fridays when the dress code was a bit more casual but still professional. But as time passed they lost a bit of their luster… the metal rings on the sides broke loose… and I began to wear them in much more casual settings. But a funny thing happened the older they got the more comfortable they became. The direct result of their increased comfort was I began to wear them everywhere. Work (casual days and regular days), going out, sporting events… everywhere.
I have had these shoes while experiencing many significant life events. Below are some of them worth mentioning:
A marriage
The purchase of a home
The birth of my two children
The birth of two of my nieces
A divorce
The sale of a home
Another marriage
The purchase of two more homes
The sale of one of those homes
Another Divorce
An emotional break down
Three promotions
Four new jobs
The loss of three grandparents
Two high school reunions
One graduate degree
Countless love affairs (both domestic and foreign)
And one embarrassing trip to the doctor.
These shoes have traveled as well: 22 States, Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, Austria, and the Czech Republic several times. These shoes have been fishing for King Mackerel in the Atlantic, toured two breweries (one foreign, one domestic), stood inside a thousand year old church, toured dozens of castles, painted a mural as a community service project in 2004 (there is still yellow paint on them from that), walk the streets of a town murdered by Nazis and erased from maps, survived two car accidents, stood at the base of a volcano, walked green hills in Europe while I drank wine from a plastic water bottle, and attended significant events of both of my children.
Of all the places these shoes have been and all the streets and paths they have walked my most favorite place to wear these shoes is crabbing on the Chester River. I keep sand in the bottom of them so I always can feel like I am near the river. It keeps me centered in a somewhat off centered way. Through all of my life’s great joys and great sorrows these shoes have been there…
These Nunn Bush shoes have earned the affectionate nick-name of “Forrest Gump” and if you ever see me in the midst of a stressful situation and I am smiling through it… look down at my shoes and if I am sporting my ‘Gumps’ just know that I am digging my toes into the river sand and dreaming of my next adventure… and I am a 1,000 miles away.
Tags: austria, boat shoes, bush nunn, canada, casual days, chester river, crabbing, czech republic, Forest Gump, gump shoes, I've worn lots of shoes, King Mackerel, mexico, switzerland
This is the most introspective piece I have ever posted… maybe it isn’t real deep but it was certainly a diiferent approach to writing than I usually take.
It is deeper than you think Big D, through all of lifes ups and downs you have had something that can activate your subconcious and allow you to feel the good and the bad all over again. Some people say it is their kids or wife or other people, but other people are not always going to be there. Linus has his blanket Big D has his shoes. I am sure Big D will feel a certain amount of loss if the shoes ever get to a point where they can longer be worn and have to be parted with. Though I am sure that day is still far in the future because, if the shoes could survive not one but two wives, they are not going anywhere fast. And let us not forget the immortal words of Forrest Dahmer “people are like a box of chocolates, YUM!”
When I die… which based on my body wieght and life style could be any day. I wish my body to be viewed with me wearing a Yuengling Beer shirt and old pair of khaki shorts and my “gump” shoes before they creamate me. Then I want my ashes spread over the shore of the Chester River at Rolph’s Warf. Who knows maybe then I will end up in someone else’s shoes and be the sand they dig their toes into???