What is it With the Shoes?

The other day Tucker got some new shoes.  My comfort level has always been around $50 for his shoes.  He is still growing really fast to where they don't fit for very long but more than that, he wears them flat out.  Got some Under Armour shoes for Christmas and they're pretty much trashed.

He wanted Reebok Zigs.  I can't tell you how much they cost because I see purchases on our account for $100 and another for $80.  I'm assuming one of those places is going to give us a refund for the shoes they never sent.  Anyway, Zigs are all the rage and in truth, there are a lot of kids his age that have them.  We live in Alpharetta, what do you want from me?  I originally told him, 'no', or that I would put $50 up and he could pay for the rest, but, he had a great school year and we decided to make that his reward for all A's and a 100 Spelling average. 
Lesson:  Some things you get just because you're in this family ($50 shoes) and some things, you have to earn.  (First class upgrade)  There's a spiritual application there.  But today, I'm on the shoes.

Finding them was pretty tough.  The guy at Nordstrom's told me he did nothing all day but answer calls from parents looking for Zigs.  To let you know how much these shoes meant to my son, we lost a heart-breaking baseball game on Sunday and this kid usually don't handle that well a-tall.  (vernacular for emphasis)  I believe there are facebook pics of him after a loss if you are interested.  It isn't a pretty picture and we're working on it.  But his response after Sunday's loss:  'It's OK.  I get my new shoes this week.'

I know what you're probably thinking.  This is a ridiculous purchase decision.  Probably even a microcosm of a larger consumerist - corrupt - something or other.  I might've missed out on a real valuable parenting opportunity.  I know all of that.  However, my credibility on this issue is tenuous because, as my wife is fond of pointing out, I have a bit of a 'shoe habit' myself.

Lemme back up a minute and tell a quick story. 

I once had the privilige of going to Truett Cathy's house for a music gig.  He is the founder of Chick-Fil-A and a very nice man.  He also lives in one of the smallest houses I've ever seen.  I'm not lying.  It is a very well-kept, but tiny, house.  Behind it, he has a vast piece of property and enormous storage sheds where he keeps several collector's cars.  He might've had 30-40 cars back there.  He also keeps some even nicer cars at the corporate office.  Always a modest man, he somewhat apologetically explained to us that growing up, he was very poor.  And he wondered if he would ever get to the point in his life where he owned his own car.  And then he (again rather sheepishly) explained that once he became a success, he kept buying more and more cars.

I think it is like that with me and shoes.  (by the way, a much cheaper habit and probably one more congruous with my station in life)  Growing up, I remember having 2 pair.  One was for church and the other was for school.  Basically, I had the same shoes for wearing to school and playing sports and doing everything else.  Once I got a little older, things started to change.

Once I got my own job, things really got out of hand.  I may now have more shoes than my wife has.  Let's see...
- Brown 'casual'  (think brown shoes that you couldn't wear with a suit but you could wear to work)
- Brown casual II (couldn't really wear these with nice slacks)
- Wallabes - been wanting these for a long time, love em.
- Black casual - again, can't wear these with a suit
- Brown loafers - those Cole Haan pinch buckle shoes.  Actually wearing them right now.
- Black dress - Cole Haan captoe
- Black dress II - Same shoe but the wingtip variety.  these are my favorite dress shoes
- Black dress III - see what I mean?

Athletic (here's where the real problem is)
- Adidas running shoes - pretty much relegated to lawn duty
- Saucony running shoes - these are high-performance runners' shoes - cause I do a lot of running - these were actually rated shoe of the year by some magazine and thought I must have them!  To do all of my high-performing runs.
- New Balance - the top of the line gray shoes.  I don't apologize for these as they are some of the best shoes ever.  They are also high-performance shoes and I think I've already explained why I need such a level of performance (a high level) from my running shoes.
Tennis
- Adidas Barricade IV - Black with silver and red trim.  I've had these for a long time.  They've been great.
- Adidas Barricade II - White and Blue that you see everywhere if you play tennis.  These aren't very comfortable and I rarely wear them.
- White/Black/Red Barricades - I know, this is ridiculous
- Nike Air something - these are my new favorites.  They were an anniversary gift from a wife who understands my issue and feeds it.

Do you really count flip flops?
- Reefs
- Plaid tops (thought these were cool but they don't compare to the Reefs)
- Others - non descript brown

What about Golf?
- White/Brown saddles
- Black

Are there any other dudes out there who would admit that they have a similar issue?  Or would anyone want to inform me that I, in fact, have a normal shoe collection?  That I would be glad to hear.

So, that really wasn't supposed to be the point of this post.  I'm truly meandering now.  The point of the post was to relay a conversation we had about my son's shoes and the fact that they were made in China.  I'll get to that another time.  Imminently more interesting than an inventory of my shoes.  Did I mention I'm also a raging narcisist who thinks people want to know all about my closet?  Somewhere, someone just muttered to themselves, "You got that right!"