ROSEMARY HARRIS: I'm in mourning. For a pair of hiking boots. It's 4AM and I'm trying to remember if the garbage man came yesterday because I'm seriously considering retrieving them from the trash.
They're Tecnica trekking boots and I bought them at Eastern Mountain Sports near Lincoln Center in 1990. I was going hiking in Utah for the first time and I needed the real deal - no sneakers, no workout shoes. I wore them on Columbus Avenue to break them in, but they didn't really need it. From the moment I put them on it was love. From the moment I saw them. They were gray, with a little turquoise and some red - sounds hideous, but they were beautiful. And they made me feel strong. Capable. And tall.
I wore them in dozens of national parks from Acadia to Yosemite and though I considered getting new ones eight years ago when I prepared to climb Mount Kilimanjiro, I trusted my old Tecnicas and - don't laugh - I wanted them to climb Kili with me! They deserved it.
It was inevitable that I'd need new boots and I searched all over the internet for the same boots - or anything close. I was convinced that a new pair existed in a warehouse somewhere (along with the Big John jeans which were my faves and you can't get anymore. One day I'll blog about what you get when you search "Big John.") Anyway,about five years ago I bought Lowas. Very nice. German. (They know hiking.) All gray, very tasteful. What's not to like?
My old boots stayed in the closet. I loved looking at them. They reminded me of all the great places I'd been in them (don't worry...they didn't actually speak to me..)
So I started wearing them to walk the dog in the arboretum near my house. Ninety acres of woods, some wetlands, a narrow boardwalk through a swampy bit. It was perfect for my old boots - hiking light!
But this week there was a problem. Had I developed a limp? No, the bottom fell off the right boot. I looked at it in disbelief. I looked at it for two days actually before I made the decision that they had to go.
And now it's 4AM and I'm wondering if the garbage man came yesterday BECAUSE I WANT THEM BACK.
What's the thing you wish you'd never thrown out??
When I get in the mood to throw things out I go on a rampage. I wish now I hadn't thrown out all the prompt books I had for the plays I stage managed 20 years ago. And I would like back the poetry I did in high school. Yeah, it wasn't the best but it captured a moment in time for me and I shouldn't have tossed them. These things are memories but I was heartless short-sighted. Ah well.
ReplyDeleteOh, trash regret. SO TERRIBLE.
ReplyDeleteI threw away all my PLAYBILLS, for years ans years of plays. Why do I need all these, I wondered? Now, I know.
I know there are more thing,s but I've tried so hard to forget them that I don't want to try to remember.
My mother threw away all my Beatles magazines, I have to say. That's annoying, thinking about the value now...
Si hank..having thrown out the OLD Playbills, do you save the current ones?
ReplyDeleteSo Hank....
ReplyDeletecheesh
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ReplyDeleteAH, briefly. Until the bowl gets full. The whole thing makes no sense.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about hiking shoes. My first pair were men's Nikes, because in the little town we lived in I couldn't find women's wide in any brand. Wearing them to mall walk now but they won't last much longer. And jeans... just can't find anything to fit like Blassport jeans.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I throw away an item of clothing I find that I want to wear it again. But my one real regret was getting rid of a red leather jacket because I decided red didn't suit me. I kicked myself for years and then went out and bought another one.
ReplyDeleteI'm grieving over my Kelly & Katie black leather slouch boots that I've worn all winter for the last two years. Wish I'd had a pedometer to count how many miles I've walked in London in those boots. I've had them resoled once, but now they're really wearing out . . .
ReplyDeleteTime to start a search for a new pair . . .
Yep, usually it's an item of clothing that I need as soon as it's gone. But one year it was a Paul Revere stockpot from my mother. It had a pinprick hole in it so it leaked every time you used it. My husband finally mused whether I thought it might heal itself...I still miss it
ReplyDeleteAnd I forgot to say, Dee (Gram) and PJ are owed cd's from Ric Cunningham's visit last week. Please email me with your snail mail address and he'll send them off to you: raisleib at gmail.com
ReplyDeleteIn my house it's the opposite problem. Just for instance, a broken electric clock radio on the bureau in our bedroom was a wedding gift (we just celebrated 43 years). There's a another clock radio that works, right in front of it, that my husband picked up (where else?) at a yard sale. But he cannot cannot cannot throw the old one away. The good thing about most new gadgets is that they break before anyone can imagine that they've established an attachment.
ReplyDeleteJonathan's wallet? Is literally in pieces. Ratty, raggedy, the leather peeling and curling and falling off in little bits.
ReplyDeleteWe got him a new one. In Italy. FIVE YEARS AGO.
It is still in the box.
Why don't you use your new wallet, honey, I ask?
He pauses, looks at the old one. "Paul (his son) gave it to me," he says.
Can't really argue with that.
For all of you who are dying to know, I did retrieve the boots from the trash. Out came the left one in fairly good condition out came the right half drenched in what I'm guessing is olive oil - so now one looks light gray and the other dark gray. I'm thinking of marinating the left one in a little balsamic vinaigrette so they match.
ReplyDeleteR, laughed out loud at this! I still have the Reichle leather hiking boots I bought as a teenager because I LOVE them, even though I stopped wearing them decades ago -- the newer, softer ones are so much easier to wear.
ReplyDeleteBut the Frye boots I took to college? Gone. And they'd be back in style now... .