The Definition of a Good Pair of Shoes

The Definition of a Good Pair of Shoes

A good pair of shoes knows your foot like a friend.
They know when to give and when to provide firm support.
They are there when you need them, and when you don't, they don't lose their shape.
They will go anywhere and perform any job; they won't squeak, won't blow out or
cause you to slip.

When they're new you might wear them with pride at inappropriate times.
You might not want to wear them at all, because you fear you'll mark them up.
When that first scuff or scratch mars the finish, you feel bad, you want to throw them away. They have lost half their value, and you start thinking of another pair.
But these good shoes are tough, a little polish and they're as good as new.
So you decide to keep them, after all there's a lot you've been through.
But you don't think as much about walking in the mud or the poop.
They can take it. That's their job, and they can always
be replaced....

So eventually, you get the urge to kick up your heels. 

And this good pair of shoes, they're not looking so good anymore. 

You go looking through catalogs and storefront windows, even thinking about 

Trying on some sporty looking, new stylish pair. 

You find one or two that you like and you slip your foot inside.

Their newness deceptively cushions the defects that cheap shoes sometimes hide.
They look good, they smell good, but you know in two weeks,
You'll have blisters, walk funny and have yet another pair of shoes in your closet, in your collection of impulsive purchases.
So you'll take out your old pair, the good ones that never let you down.
You hope the mold and dirt hasn't taken too great of a toll.
The fact that they are good shoes doesn't make them invulnerable to the ravages of improper care.

Alas, even good shoes may go bad if there is no one around to wear them.

Well, you can't bear to throw them out, but to keep them is also a pain, 

So you savagely use them for the dirty work and leave them in the rain. 

Too good to throw away, but now not good enough to be your shoes, 

Their good days behind them,

They still hang in there, waiting to be used.

A good pair of shoes, never fails you, no matter what you do.

The Lilac Minute

Re: Sunday Evening
From: Lilac20C@aol.com
To: dogboner@c-zone.net
Subject: Re: Sunday Evening
Date: Monday, December 27, 1999 19:32:21
Hi Andrew

Hope all is well. I liked your letter you definitely seem to be someone who is acquainted with himself and that is a good thing. - you know. Some people seemed to be more concerned with fitting in than with who they can become •

i am sorry to hear about huckleberry - perhaps its nothing serious I reallv hope so. Because I couldn't image if anything would happen to ray pets, they are my babies. I love them with all my heart.
Its amazing what they can do for you. Just a gesture or a look can turn a really bad day into a very good day. My girls make me smile with their unique personalities. While huckleberry may be a lump, Chloe is more like a streak of lightning she is so energetic and just a little love. Listen to me blah blah blah.

well, onto another subject - screen printing sounds very interesting - you must enjoy it. 1 have seen some beautiful pieces done in that media - quirky huh. Well, as for the theory of art being void - I think that what your uncle fails to realize is art is not in the creation but in its reaction. When one looks at a piece and feels something whether positive or negative - that’s where the art truly is. Listen to me, well I will get off of my soap box now onto his subject.

You are the first person I really write too like this - I think it is because I feel kindred spirit with you. Perhaps that's a good thing:o)

Its good chat you want to make the most of your education because that is another area in which we can grow and change. I love learning - I never liked it as a kid, but now as an adult. I feel I cannot get enough information. Perhaps because I have realized the real wealth in this world is knowledge and love. And anything else is just fleeting in our lives.

Perhaps you are a writer - you may not just know it yet for sure. Perhaps you are waiting to end your adventure before you begin the chronicles. I think you would be a good writer with your insight into the world.

I try to be understanding of those around me because I have come to the determination that if we all use a little kindness and manners perhaps we can change the world one person at a time - although I must say I do fall of my pedestal once in a while and let the world get to me - but after all I am only human.

Your cat sounds like he has lived quite a life - he was lucky enough to drift into the life of someone who cares for him.

That’s another thing that I feel directs our lives. We run into people who will change our lives all the time - sometimes we just aren't aware of it and loose some very good influences, but enough of my preaching for now.

Sorry to be so talkative, but I am in one of my purging moods. And I think you are very interesting although I think there is one thing we may have to 'discuss.

Yes, I am a tall woman but I am also heavy. So if this is an issue please let me know. Please don’t take offense but some people just think that what one looks like is all there is. Because underneath this padding is the soul of a really great person only the lucky ones have been blessed to see that.

So I will hopefully hear from you soon. I hope all goes well. And I will keep my fingers crossed for huckleberry.

The Ballad of the Cowgirl and her Chance Encounter with a Man in the Feed Store (and how it led her to place a personal ad in the News and Review) by The Man in the Feed Store

I'll bet you like horses, I'd say with a grin on my face,

To the tall, blonde haired beauty that I saw at the feed store buyin' grain.

You'd look at me with anger; 

Who is this stranger, 

What's he staring at me for?

Go away, little boy; 

I'm a big girl who's seen it all before.

So our first chance encounter would have ended up disastrously.
I'd have never known you were looking for someone like me.
I'd stumble and stutter; you'd buy the grain and walk out the door,
And I'd be left standing there in the aisle of the damn feed store.

So, disgusted with myself, I'd go home, watch TV and drink a beer,
Like so many nights, for so many sad lonely years.
After a few hours, I’d fall off to sleep on the couch,
Dreamin' about the Cowgirl at the feed store that I just can't live without.

And the days would come and the days would go

How to get that girl, well, I just don't know

I'd clean my house and buy new clothes

And do all the things that a man can do to let a woman know.

I'd bring you flowers and read you tender love poems,
If only I had the number to your telephone.
I'd look through the want ads, mainly to have a good laugh,
Cause love never comes from its pages, just girls who want cash.

But hope springs eternal, even for old hopeless fools like me.
I'd open up the paper, not ready for what I would see:
"6 foot 2, with eyes of blue,
Blonde haired Cowgirly, Is looking for you.

"She likes animals, dancing, four wheelin'
And some romance, too.
She wants a 5" 9' brown haired man with glasses,     
Last seen at the feed store, looking so dashing,

"Who’s conversation was lacking, but who looked so sincere,

Though she was in quiet a rush,

So she really couldn't spare the time to sit around and wait

For him to pick up his eyeballs off the floor and get his lines together,

And quit his droolin' 

(though he did look kind of cute with his tongue hangin' down to his boots). 

THAT man,

If it's you, can call my personal ad.

And I hope that you do."

So I called her personal ad,
And all my dreams came true.

Andrew Breakup Letter to Sharon (longwinded)

Well, I guess this is where it all started, isn't it? Email. There is no mystery or danger any longer, just communication between souls that have a hard time always saying what they mean. 

I don't really know why I'm writing to you now, just nostalgic, I guess, having a real hard time letting go.

I love you so much, and I know I will never stop even if that love means letting you go. You need to do what is best for you. Not be stuck in a relationship that doesn't satisfy you. Love cannot be forced on someone or faked by someone in return. 

I will never stop caring for you and will not go down the road of hating you, just to make the feelings disappear. They will never really disappear, because I am human and have a heart and mind that remembers all the good, and happy times we've had. 

I can't go around with regrets, I don't regret the time we've spent. I regret the bad things that have happened, maybe the fact that I didn't do more of the little things that would have shown you that I loved you. But I think you really, honestly, know that I do, and have, loved you. 

You think I took you for granted, or that I didn't really appreciate you. You think I just saw in you some girl, any girl, and that that was all I cared about. That I didn't love you for you. I loved all the things that you let me know about you.

I could have forgiven you anything from your past because the person that I knew you to be was different. A person can change. I would not have held the things in your past against you, if you were up front about them. 

You never trusted me enough to tell me some of this stuff because you probably thought I would think horrible things about you. The truth is I would have admired you for being honest and could have believed the best about you, that you were different from your past. 

I am different from my past. I was an immature teenager and an irresponsible adult. I’ve caused my share of hurt in people's lives. But when we started our relationship it was a clean slate for both of us. 

So a lot has happened and now we have to break up, because we are both not happy. You, because you want things out of life that I cannot currently provide, and me because I can't be with a woman who doesn't respect me. 

Although I tried to earn your respect and make you want to proud of me, in going to school, bettering myself, I guess things weren't up to your expectations, or didn't happen fast enough. And then there's the fact that I will never be a big, towering hulk of a man. So you probably would look upon me as inferior, no matter how smart or rich I was. 

The bottom line is, I didn't have what it takes. I just want you to know that I loved you, and really thought that you loved me. That we had something special. I know there were times of hostility, the usual couple fighting stuff. But the times of fun and love and sweetness were about 90% and the other stuff about 10% or less. But that was all with the assumption that we were both being honest with each other. If it wasn't 90% and 10% for you, I didn't know. 

I have so many good memories that will always be a part of me, that helped me to become the person I am today (hopefully better than the one I was). But I cannot help but be confused. Were ail these good things, the love and tender feelings we've shared not true? They were for me. 

I can't believe that there wasn't love between us, real love. And if it was real, what happened? Why did it have to end? What can really make love end? It can't. I still love you. I can't be with you right now, I can't respect what you've done. I hate the fact that I was lied to and used. 

But that doesn't change the fact that I still do love you. I will always care what happens to you, if you are happy and healthy. 

I can't make you love me, if you don't. I can't buy your respect. Or remake myself into the image of a 6'5" lumberjack. I am what I am. I don't apologize for being 5’9". 

I guess there's no point in saying "If I wasn't your ideal man, whatever did you see in me to stay with me for a year and a half?" You did, but you regret it, now you are free and I am sad. I thought I could make you happy, I didn't want to make you depressed. 

Just believing that you loved me made me so happy and started me down the path of being a better person. I didn't realize that I wasn't having the same effect on you. I wanted so much for it to be mutual. Sometimes it just can't be. 

When I think of all the little things, like blowing kisses on the radio, like the cuddling (when both of us are really into it), like all of our pet names for each other and how we both treat our animals as if they were our children, the fun things we've done, and the crazy things like camping out. swimming, barhopping (and field hopping) ... the fitness fad, the sicknesses we've endured, the laughter (even at my stupid jokes), our romantic times and even the day to day boring routine of cleaning up after horses, or just watching movies or doing some recreation to pass time like playing cards for nickles, I just can't picture myself doing it and having as good a time with anybody else. And I can't bear to think of it coming to an end. 

I think of you as my one true love in life, and I will never be able to replace you. Since I can't have you, your love and respect, I can't have what I want in life. Sometimes people can't get what they want. 

Maybe you will find what you want, maybe not. But I will not allow you to settle for me, if I am not what you want. I don't know how long it will take for you to be strong and face the possibility of being alone. I hope not too many more half-way relationships. It only hurts you and the other person. 

I don’t intend to preach to you, I just wish you would be truthful with yourself first, and with other people, including me. Its the only way we can be friends. Friendship is built on trust. Trust is given by faith, but if it is lost it has to be earned. When you tell the truth, even when it hurts you, it establishes trust.

Right now, we are at the very, very beginning point of the truth coming out. It hurts. Eventually, it can heal. If there is love, there can be trust again. Love is patient, and kind, and forgives all things. I don't say that I have perfect love, but if ever I've loved anyone in my life, I love you and wish you the best in all things. 

Even if your feelings aren't the same for me, I know I can't lie to myself and say that I don't love you when I do. I just can't be with you. I can't pretend that you are mine when you are not. I've said all I can say, and I can't make you stay. I must let you go, it's the only way. 

Maybe someday, when you've been hurt a time or two, you'll think of our love, and it won’t seem so boring. Maybe I’m kidding myself by being so sentimental, I really never knew you as well as I thought I did. Maybe we'll get to know each other better, and if we can stand one another, after being honest for a while, we'll have a chance at something real. 

I don't want to lose you. I just don't know how good of a friend I can be to put aside my own hurt and pride and be there for you unselfishly. I guess I really don't have a choice, I love you. I will be there for you in whatever way you need me to be. I will probably hold a candle for you till the day I die...silly me...but that's the way I am. 

We're broken up now, so you can see who you want, date who you want, be who you want. I want you to be happy in life, so be free but be wise, and take care. Remember, in all your relationships....honesty. 

You probably won't like having me for a friend, see how preachy I am? I can't help it, I just want the best for people, and they just want to screw their lives up. But being a friend means backing off and letting people make mistakes, not condemning them, but offering advice IF ASKED. 

So, I'll shut up now, I hope things go good for you and if you ever need someone to talk to I'll be there. Take care, sweetie.
Love,
andrew