About ten years ago I bought a pair of winter hiking boots from Eddie Bauer. They’re hightops, brown, sturdy, and very comfortable. For ten years they’ve been the boots I wear in snow, ice, winter dog walking, and whenever I need a good hiking boot. They’re my “WINTER BOOTS.” Last spring as I put away my winter clothes, I made a point of putting my boots somewhere that I knew I’d remember! Well, you know how that goes! I pride myself at having a really good memory, but in fall when I put summer clothes away and retrieved my winter apparel, I couldn’t find my boots. Looked in all the likely places! No boots. After much searching, I gave up and started checking the Eddie Bauer catalogs (which we seem to get weekly) for new boots. Seemed they are no longer making ones like I had, and the ones they’re making are much more expensive and don’t seem nearly as all-pupose as my old ones.
That October snow storm found me without boots! I was not happy! Then I decided to think of places my boots might have been had I not, as I’d thought, put them away in a place I would remember. (That meant I’d have to admit that my memory might not be quite a good as i’d thought! Hmmmm!)
Where did I put them after I wore them during the winter? Often I took them off in the guest bedroom where the closet was with my especially heavy winter clothes. Could I have takent off those boots the last time and just left them on the floor? (Sadly, that was a distinct possibility. Housekeeping is not my forte, which I believe I’ve mentioned in the past – or on my bio.) I went to the guest room and looked, but the boots were not on the floor. Then i got down on my stomach and looked under the bed, and voila! There they were! Way under the bed! Probably I’d shoved them under there when I vacuumed the guest room carpet. (Hate to vacuum, and I tend to shove things out of the way when I’m doing that task. Dear Barry has taken over the vacuuming, mostly, I think, because I was very hard on vacuum cleaners!)
And so for several months my beloved Eddie Bauer boots have been waiting for me to put them on, but no snow! Today, however, when I go to campus I’m going to wear them! It’s supposed to snow this afternoon, and I’ll be on campus until mid-evening. Will probably have a distance to walk to get to my parking spot, so I’ll be wearing my great boots to keep me sure-footed! (OK. They aren’t going to look very professional, but safety first! Right?) I’m looking forward to a bit of snow…wearing my longlost boots. As I’ve been writing this, the sky has gotten quite gray and threatening-looking. Snow! I’m ready!