The Tale Of The Mis-Matched High Tops...A "Short" Memoir

I've probably blogged about this before, but when I saw the purple Chuck Taylor's tonight, the memory returned.

High school...

Senior year...

Three friends, three pairs of Converse High Tops.

I don't know who came up with the idea. It's possible it all happened because three of us all had the same shoe size. We got the idea of buying some Converse Chuck Taylor's. We bought one green pair, one purple pair, and one orange pair--not sure why we chose those colors either (this memoir kind of stinks...). To make things interesting, we swapped colors. If I remember correctly--and I might not--I had one purple shoe and one green one.

We wore the shoes in school. I believe we were way ahead of our time, even in the mid-1980s. I kept my shoes for years. I think they began to fall apart before I finally tossed them. Tonight, I strolled through the thrift store and saw a pair of purple Converse All-Stars. And if they weren't size 13, I might have picked them up, even though the last thing I need is another pair of second-hand shoes.

I know wearing different color shoes is most likely, in no way considered avant-garde nowadays. For all I know, they might even sell them in different colors. If they don't, they should.

It's been so long since my senior year of high school. I wonder if the other two guys ever remember back at the time we swapped shoes when they see a pair of purple Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star high tops. 

Maybe, but they guy who ended up with one green shoe and one orange one probably won't.

Got New Shoes...

When you've destroyed the shoes you wear almost every workday, they need to be replaced. And so today was the day my wife and I went shoe shopping.

I left for Dr. Martins. I returned with Converse.

That wasn't the plan, but you know how plans go sometimes. The Dr. Martens I wanted were out of stock, so they'll be shipped to me later. I did see, as I searched the clearance section, other shoes that I picked up--a pair of neon yellow Converse low tops All Stars at almost 70% off.

Hard to pass that up, no matter what color they are.

I haven't owned All Stars since high school. I think it was my junior year. Three of us who shared the same shoe size bought three pairs of Chuck Taylor high tops, a red pair, a green pair, and a purple pair (now that I think about it, it might have been orange instead of red, but that's not important...). We each swapped one shoe, so I had orange/purple, another had purple/green, and the third had green/orange. We wore them to school, to Lagoon in the summer, all over. In all my years since, I don't believe I've ever seen anyone ever wearing different color shoes--on purpose--since. I find that somewhat interesting considering what people wear these days.

I miss those old shoes. If I had the means (and two friends with the same shoe size who shared the desire to wear different-colored shoes around...), I just might do it again. I wonder if anyone would notice.