More than a pair of shoes to me....

This isn't your every day blog.  Sometimes I post about my kids, sometimes I post about dum-dums, sometimes my struggles and triumphs.  Today,  I'm thinking about my shoes.  Now, I just recently got to a place in my life where I am willing to buy a cute pair of heels for myself  {on sale of course, I'm still me afterall} without feeling tremendous guilt that I didn't just buy something my kids would need with that money.  This is not about a cute pair of new shoes that I think are a must have item.  I could totally do a whole post on cute shoes though.  

Last week as I was running errands in my trusty tennis shoes I discovered that the heel had split from the rest of the shoe.... I was a little wistful honestly.  You see my good ol' Nikes have been with my 15 years.  Yep. 15. Years. When I started running track in the 8th grade, my parents did not have the money to buy me good running shoes, so my Grammie bought me a pair of Nike shoes and they were not just shoes to me.  I had never before had a pair of brand name shoes.  I was painfully shy enough as it is, but to feel more self conscious starting track with my regular canvas shoes was going to be rough.  So my Nike running shoes from Grammie were not just shoes.  They were courage.  They were love.  And I was hoping they would help me to fly.  Well, I never flew, or even ran terribly fast.  But being part of the team is what first helped me to come out of my shell. 

Those same shoes carried me into my freshman year of highschool.  They were with me in some of the most fun times of my life in high school.  Football games, parades, youth group meetings, church mission trips, first jobs, learning to drive, driving on my own, boy friends, ex-boyfriends, and then went with me to a new world of living on my own in college.  They were with me when I trudged to my classes after late nights of pizza, dorm parties and laughter. 
My shoes came along with me into my first apartment with my new husband, carried me.... as I carried five children and brought 4 of those babies home from the hospital and pushed them around the neighborhood in their stroller. 
Those shoes have been to Hawaii, the streets of New York City, Phoenix, Niagra Falls and most recently took me to El Salvador.  I've spent over half of my life in those shoes.  They've been good to me.  They were the most comfortable pair of shoes ever.  They've lived my life with me.  It may be silly, but they are more than shoes to me.
Now I begin a new chapter, in a new pair of shoes.  I wonder if these new ones will last 15 years?  I'm guessing not.  But more than that, I'm left with what life will bring me in the next 15 years, and where my new shoes and I will go?