These shoes weren't made for walking

No rest for the weary walkerI walked the soles off my first pair of shoes this weekend. This has happened to me before. I don’t really invest in most of the things that I buy, especially when it comes to clothing and shoes. Nothing brings me greater joy than finding a pair of shoes for the same price I paid when I was 10. I like to call myself “thrifty” but most people just call it “cheap.” When I was in middle school, I actually hot glued the sole of my sneakers back on because I loved them so much. I gouged holes in the wooden floor at my grandmother’s house because I would not throw away a pair of high heels where the heel had been worn down to the nail that attached it to the shoe. My newest victim is a pair of blue canvas shoes that I found at Wal-Mart for five bucks. I figured they would be perfect for kicking around Prague in and they were fashionable enough. But these flimsy, arch-less shoes were no match to the amount of walking that I do in Europe. In a single day, I find myself on my feet, around the city, up and down stairs, wandering around metro stops…my legs are in constant motion, and my feet are constantly scraping the floor. It’s impossible to explore and experience Prague without getting your feet a little dirty and less than six weeks in, the soles of my precious blue shoes have worn through to the bottom of my now filthy socks. And so now I have to decide what to do with them. My roommate has a roll of scotch tape that she hoards like it’s gold, so that option is gone. I emailed my dad yesterday, and the possibility of a shipment of duct tape maybe making it to Male Namesti any day now. The only option I don’t have is to stop wearing them. Those soles have seen a lot. They were there with me when I said goodbye to my family and left on my first independent adventure. They protected my feet when I stepped on a beer bottle in a nightclub in Prague and it shattered. I wore them when I went to Munich, and their blue color faded from the six inches of snow we trudged through for two days. I can’t imagine not wearing these shoes as I continue to explore Prague and the rest of Europe. Those shoes have become my souvenir from this semester, and they were a whole lot cheaper than a t-shirt from Charles Bridge.