Old Boots

If you know Jason at all, you definitely know these boots.

I bought these boots for Jason back when he was in basic training for the Air Force. They were supposed to be a Christmas present that year, but if I remember correctly, I ended up giving them to him that summer. Since then, they've practically been a part of the family. They've been through about everything, water, mud, manure - who knows what else. They've been washed up several time, they've been polished, and they've been resoled.

I have suggested several times that these boots in their scruffy, ugly, broken down state, really needed to be transitioned into "work only" boots. Jason' reply has always been that they are perfectly broken in, and that's how they're supposed to look (and then usually prompted a thorough wash up and polish). I've even gone the route of buying new boots to replace them, three different pairs over the years, but yet they sit in the closet barely worn.

Then, a few weeks ago, Jason came downstairs with one of the "new" pairs of boots on. He announced the retirement of the old, worn out boots. Just like that, just a day out of the blue, it's time for new boots. He was sad, I could tell, and actually I was too. Like I said before, the boots were like family. And now that I think about it, I think the boots had more significance than just footwear. The year I gave Jason the boots was a major year in our life. Jason joined the military, we got married and we moved to North Carolina, all within a few months. From that time forward, they were alway there. Through happy times, bad times, deployments, moves, promotions, travels, crisis, and so on, those boots have always been there.

So, to commemorate the boots, I took the picture shown at the beginning of the post. I'm going to have it printed and framed. So even if the boots never get worn again, the spirit and memories of the boots will always be with us.



...and one from the little tykster.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!
Love, Brennan