When I was a teenager, I used to wear pink Converse high tops almost all the time. I practically lived in those shoes! They were comfortable and funky; whether or not they were in style as well, I don't recall. I thought they were cool, and at the time that's all that mattered. I bought my first pair of pink high tops (and subsequent pair as well) at One More Time, a vintage clothing/specialty store in Moscow, Idaho that also carried funky stuff like rubber chicken key chains, pink flamingo kitchen accessories, buttons with quirky sayings on them, and Sea Monkeys. Stuff like that. Yeah, it was way cool, but don't go looking for it now, because it's not there anymore. Charlotte, the lady who ran the store, moved to Texas a very long time ago.

Anyway, like I said: I loved those my pink high tops. I think I had at least two pair of them over the course of several years. I wore them all through High School and well into college, as I recall, until I finally wore out my last pair, and could no longer find pink Converse high tops anywhere. I was sad, but eventually consoled myself with a really cool pair of white cowboy-style boots with fringe on the side.

I hadn't thought about those pink high tops in a very long time.

Today mom and I went shopping over at the Target Center. We had money from an Ebay sale that was begging to be spent. Mom spent most of her half right away buying two new lamps and lampshades at Target, and a new pair of slippers and tennis shoes at Ross. I looked and looked for something to spend my share of the loot on, finally choosing a short-sleeved sage green sweatshirt with a white T-shirt inlay from Ross. I think it'll be nice for this spring. I was disappointed that I didn't find anything fun at Fashion Bug, and would've bought a DVD/VHS combo player, but Target didn't have the model I wanted, so I decided to wait.

We were just about to head home, when I decided to pop into Name Brand Shoes just to see if anything was on sale. A cursory glance around had me almost convinced there was nothing worth looking at, when a flash of pink along the far wall caught my eye, and I headed over to investigate. There, surrounded by other, more important-looking athletic shoes, was a lone pink high top tennis shoe on display. Closer inspection revealed it to be an authentic pink high top Converse sneaker, and I nearly squeeled with glee! I searched the boxes below the display for my size (remembering that since they're men's sizes, they'll be somewhat different), and found a pair. I tried them on and they fit like a dream. I remembered many sunny summer days spent running around in my favourite pink high tops, loving them even though they made my feet look really big (because my feet are really big, and the jeans were tight and narrow then), making the soles squeak down the hallway at school when they were wet. And now here they were, once again, on my feet. I bought them. A birthday present to myself, and a little taste of my past.

for what it's worth,
Hez

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Escape

Reading: Not much. Mostly last month's issues of Good Housekeeping, Newsweek, and Better Home and Garden we got from my grandparents.

Classic Book: Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Listening to: Clay Aiken, Joy Williams, Salvador, Plumb.

Writing: Nothing, yet.

Gratitude: Finding these awesome shoes!

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