Truth is I have worn my high school Saucony's from 1989 until just recently, when Chitunga harassed me for never throwing away my old sneakers. I told him, "They have stories. They are family. I can't get rid of them." They were beat up bad, and during Covid I said, "The boy is right. I should shuck old things to make room for new ones."
But sneakers. Please. They're narratives. I had two pairs from high school that lasted me through college, and that I loved to wear on occasion to say, "Hey, youth. I see you."
Anyway, when I saw a pair of retro kicks that looked like my high school kicks, I had to put them in the online cart. I love the old rubber soles they used to put not he bottom of their shoes and the sturdiness of the entire design. That's why they lasted almost 30 years. They were made well. Now, a new pair.
Yes, I've gone astray from time to time, but typically I go back to Saucony. I just love them, and for the last couple of days I've been walking like a king thinking, "Dang, look at these Class of 1990 feet." Yes. They're old-school. And yes, they're still cool.
Even got the speckled shoe laces with the traces of green and purple.
My mid life crisis is unlike yours.
They feel exactly the way they've always felt. Oh, happy day. I feel like I'm a teenager again.