The only thing about me is the way that I walk

Favorite shoes are a funny thing. I remember vivid details of the stores where I buy my favorite shoes. I'm not sure why this is. Perhaps because, once I realize how great the shoes are, I imagine myself going back to buy more, because good comfortable shoes are hard to find and worth stocking up on if you find a brand and model that agrees with you. Of course I have yet to actually follow the whole process of 1) discover after a week or two that these are really great shoes, 2) make it back to the store, and 3) find and buy more pairs for when current pairs wear out. This week I threw out two of my favorite pairs of shoes of all time. I purchased the black pair from Next, in Walsall, England (next to the Blockbuster Video), and wore them more or less every day for the four years I lived in England. A couple months after moving to Spain, I was climbing the stairs to our rented apartment and Marga noticed something odd about the heels of my shoes. "Why do you walk on the outside of your heels like that?", she asked. I said I had no idea what she was talking about and she made me take off my shoes to examine the evidence. Sure enough, the outside part of my heels were worn down, and the insides were not. Of course once I knew about the side-worn heels, I could feel my foot twisting with each step. So those shoes were set aside and have lived out their retirement in my closet with the other, younger, whippersnapper shoes. Until this week, that is.

Best black shoes ever.

Brown shoes bare their soles.

The yellowish-brown pair, I bought my last year in England from a shop in downtown Birmingham. They, too, have been worn just about every day since. They were so comfortable and easy to take on and off. Eventually, though, they were worn through one too many rainstorm and the suede became discolored and stiff. Not surprisingly, upon inspection, they also had the outside of their heels worn down.

So now I'm wondering if I have some orthopedic problem worth correcting. No doubt there are people in white lab coats willing to sell me things to put in or on my shoes to correct my problem. Personally I'm fine with my everyday shoes only lasting 1,500 days.