Sometimes ... It's Just the Shoes

New shoes are my nemesis. When I finally find a pair of shoes that I can wear, I keep them long beyond their useful life. 'Til death do we part' is a vow I can easily make with a comfortable pair of shoes.

Which brings me to my dance shoes.

I have a pair of shoes that I've worn since I started dancing. These shoes and I have had our trying times, but when push comes to shove ... they are there for me.

I have a new pair of dance shoes that have never felt as comfortable. They are beautiful to look at, I love the ability to get in and out of them quickly. But man! They are uncomfortable.

With the dance showcase soon upon us, I dusted off my new dance shoes and thought I should get used to dancing in them before the big day. I can't wear my old and bedraggled shoes on Showcase Day! It just wouldn't look right.

Then ... my instructor asked me to bring both pairs of shoes with me, to my last lesson.

I put on my old, worn and comfortable shoes first. They take longer to buckle up and I could quickly change into my new shoes and not waste precious moments of my dance lesson doing so.

I didn't even think about it. We danced. And I danced fairly well. Of course I should be dancing fairly well by now, so I didn't correlate the shoes with my abilities. Until I changed shoes.

I fumbled, I lost my balance and my ability to dance. Maybe it was all in my mind ... but the moment I put on those new, uncomfortable shoes I walked differently and I most definitely danced differently.

Could a lot of my ineptness of late, be blamed on the shoes? Not all of it, I'm sure. But enough to change my choice of shoes for Showcase Day. Hopefully my feet will be such a blur that no one will notice the fraying edges and general unkemptness of a pair of shoes that is almost a decade old. I just hope that the straps don't give out on me before then.

I will mourn the loss of my old dance shoes when they can no longer be revived. There will never be another pair of shoes just like them. But ... as with many things in life, I just can't give up. Maybe there is even a better pair of shoes out there for me. I just haven't found them yet.