For the past 20 plus summers or so, I would take a few days off from work around this time for the infamous “Back to School”. I would try to get everything ready quick, cheap and as painless as possible. I would be scouting for sales and calling other mothers to come up with new strategies. But for some karmic reason, I would always end up in some endless line discussing the high prices of everything with other parents and rolling my eyes everytime something would be out of stock. While waiting on those endless lines I would dream that everything could be bought online so I could stay home and watch Netflix.
The last item on the list: school shoes. My son prefers snickers like me and my daughter, with her chic sense of fashion, prefers boots (the really cool ones that unfortunately won’t fit me). It was always a yuck moment when we had to go into the store to get those shoes that none of us liked. Those shoes would be worn until they would transform into practically slippers and would be toss at the end of the school year with a happy little celebration.
A few days ago I was at the mall with my husband and went by the store where we would buy the dreaded shoes. As I looked inside the store and saw mothers pleading to their children to try them on; it hit me: this is the first time I won’t be buying school shoes because my youngest is going to college! I had to stop for a second. I stared at those shoes and I couldn’t believe I was teary eyed. The one thing I hated to buy showed me that my kid has grown?
How funny life is. Something so simple can remind you of change. Now I am looking at my daughter’s last pair of very worned school shoes with a little nostalgia. Memories of all those back to school moments take on a new light because they are part of the past now. What to do? Nothing but to welcome the changes ahead. Thank you school shoes.
Jean-Marie Sánchez 