In My Shoes

 When I was in junior high, I had an orange T-shirt with a blue Adidas logo across the chest. An aunt once asked me who "Ahdeedahs" was. This took some of the air out of the cool that I was hoping to gain by having this shirt in my wardrobe. True enough, I wasn't wearing it to impress my aunt, but I was already struggling against the tides of peer pressure and I didn't need this woman harshing on what I assumed was my "buzz." 

Backing up a couple steps, I feel the need to explain that at this point in popular adolescent behavior, Adidas was a force. Nike? Reebok? Never mind. If you wanted to show just how very with it you were, you had Adidas on your feet. Specifically, you wanted the Superstar, and if you were really with it, you had the green stripes. Three of them. I cannot stress enough how important that number was. Those three stripes distinguished Adidas from the rest of the shoe world. It had to be three. 

It was my sainted mother who brought my new shoes home. Green stripes. Four of them. I tried to maintain a modicum of composure. "Mom," I asked as the tension began to rise in my voice, "Where did you get these?"

"At Pennys," she replied as she emptied the rest of the shopping excursion on my bed.

I could not comprehend the rest of the socks, underwear and jeans. I saw only those four green stripes. The mark of the uncool. "Pennys?" I stammered.

"I looked at the Adidas, but they were twice as expensive as these." 

I looked for the words to describe the difference in the price of my self esteem, but I knew the next phase of the argument would raise the potential of having me buy my own shoes, "if it's so important."

Ultimately, my love for my mother was stronger than the caste system surrounding sneakers. I wore them to school the next day knowing that I was still sitting a notch above the kids wearing worn out Keds. But wincing in anticipation of the cries: "Hey, look! Caven's got shoes from Pennys!"

I did take some abuse for what was on my feet. But what was in my heart was pure. My mother was teaching me a lesson about status, and eventually I wore those shoes out. And my mom brought home another pair just like it. 

I wore those out too. 

I didn't need Adidas to be cool. My mom was ahead of her time.