SHOES

I love shoes.  But not the high-heeled fancy kind that city women wear.  I like comfortable practical shoes.  Since I was able to buy and choose my own shoes I have worn strange and wonderful shoes.

 

I was thirteen when I got my first pair of moccasins. My family had spent our summer vacation in Wyoming where I had acquired an exquisite pair of beaded moccasins. With my own money, thank you very much.   Buckskin leather with blue, white and purple beading across the top.  I was practically dancing on the bus to my new school.

 

I saved my new moccasins to wear on my first day of school.  I knew I was looking good.  There is nothing in the world quite so satisfying as wearing something you love AND that you have gotten by your own means.  Add to that the feeling of knowing that you look hot, hot, hot and there is nothing better especially when you are a ninth grader moving into your teen years. 

 

So there I was at Noon Dance Program on that first day a little shy but eager to meet all my new friends.  Some girls came over to talk to me.  Of course they noticed my footgear.  I was chatting comfortably when I noticed a group of the popular boys pointing and laughing at my feet.  I looked straight at them with my mouth hanging open.  My mind was a blur of surprise and shock.  I couldn’t believe how ridiculous they were laughing at my beautiful handmade moccasins.  For the first time in my short life had I experienced ignorance and I was fit to be tied.  Stamping my foot I turned my back on them. 

 

Looking back I am surprised at how firmly I stood my ground while being laughed at on my first day of school. During my school years I wore Birkenstocks, Apache boots, tire sandles and even good old lace up Oxfords.  I went through four years of high school with those boys and even dated a few of them but I never forgot my first experience with them and I never forgot how ignorance is so ignorant.

Jesse