I can (still) tie my shoes!

Sunday I did a strange thing: I asked my wife if she wanted to go shoe shopping. Now neither of us is HUGE into shopping, so she didn't break down into tears of joy when I asked her to go shoe shopping with me nor did she jump around screaming that she thought this day would never come, nor did she look at me closely and ask what I had done to her husband. I have had the shoes I am wearing now for going on two and a half years now and they are the only pair of shoes I own. Thus when I say they are 2.5 years old they have pretty much gotten 2.5 years of use. It hasn't been shared around between "other shoes" either. I'm a one-pair of shoes type of guy... what can I say?

We ventured out to the "zone of terror" (known to most Bellevue locals as "Bell Square Mall") and found a parking space within 15 minutes of arriving. We went to no less than 4 stores that carried shoes in my quest (almost spelled "Qwest" there for a second, I need to get away from the computer world for a bit.) for a pair, or two, of shoes.

The pair we finally found I had sampled and enjoyed in about 10 minutes. (The joys of having a "solid" shoe size these days, as opposed to the ever growing shoe size adventures as a child. (Is he a size 4? Well, he was LAST week...)) And we were out. As I have gotten older I am fairly able to look at something and tell right off the bat if it is 1. going to fit right, 2. look good, 3. taste great, or 4. be enjoyable to me. Of course I leave a good 20 to 30% room for error, but in this case Lisa pointed out the shoes, I tried them on, and we were out.

All that to say that I wore my new shoes for the first time yesterday. They were "lace ups" versus the "slip ons" I have been wearing for two years now. So yesterday was the first time in 2ish years since I have tied a pair of shoes. It was strange... they hug the feet more firmly than my slip-ons do. But honestly it just makes me feel more loved.

We continue to prep for our trip down south. Working during the days, and fiddling with the amount of things that need to get done before we leave at night. It's been a long week and I think I am looking forward to driving thousands of miles just to get away from all the prep to DRIVE thousands of miles. Looking forward to it though. The iPods are preped, the GPS is warmed up, and the maps are are folded properly... for now.

~B.