Shoes, Shirts and The Goodwill Pile

I love shoes. I have lots of pairs of shoes. Some I wear all the time, like my work shoes and gym shoes. These are kept on the floor of my closet, easy to get at, in pairs, lined up neatly. Some other shoes are in the shoe holder in my closet, the ones I wear to weddings, not very often, like the two times a year I wear a dress or the times I might wear heels with jeans. Some I have tried on with an outfit a million times but have never actually worn out of the house, because my jeans aren't quite long enough to go with, or they just look plain stupid with a dress, what the heck was I smoking when I bought those?? These shoes are the saddest ones, they were so hopeful coming home with me, and I was so hopeful of looking really chic wearing them, but it turns out they were only destined to be place holders in my closet. These sort of shoes stay in my closet a couple of years until they are hopelessly outdated, then they move to the basement, at the bottom of the stairs, where I pile up my bags of old clothes and boxes of shoes that are on their way to the Goodwill.

I don't actually TAKE these bags to the Goodwill until they have been on the basement floor for at least a year. I might change my mind about the stuff I already haven't worn for 4 or 5 years. And sometimes I do. I'll take an old sweater out of the bags and think, hm, why did I ever think I didn't want to wear this sweater ever again? So I wear it and realize that I never want to wear it again because the stupid tag on the inside irritates my left oblique even though I have cut off the most of it, the part that is sewn to the seam is still annoying and scratchy. Or, why did I ever put these cute red slip-on tennies into the pile? So I wear them to a Cardinals Game because they are the perfect color of red, and then I remember, these are uncomfortable because they don't stay firmly on my skinny foot and it's real work to curl my toes to keep them from slipping off at every step.

Sonny has long ago discovered the shoes at the bottom of my closet. Shoes that I thought were already in the basement, he has pulled out from the back of my closet. What really surprises me is that he has started to bravely venture into the basement, a place he feared going when he first moved in with me, and now he nonchalantly does the steps and has begun to present me with samples of castoff shoes that I put down there for the Goodwill. He'll disappear for a few minutes and the next time I turn around there is something on the living room floor I remember buying in 1999. He is fast and furious when it comes to carrying a shoe out of my closet or from the pile. I can't keep up with him! As soon as I put the shoe back, there's another one to take it's place. I really have to keep my closet and the basement doors closed, I need to pay more attention to that, and I think it's about time to take the present pile to the Goodwill and start a new pile, I'm really never going to wear anything from that pile again.

But first, well maybe, I think I am going to try those black sandals my sister gave me again this summer. With that white shirt. And I'm pretty sure those jeans will fit me again........