Change Your Shoes, Change Your Life

When I was preparing to leave for Kuwait, I gathered a stockpile of things to take with me that I knew would either be difficult to find over here or difficult to have mailed. As a result, I arrived with a cache of ingredients for spaghetti sauce, enough stuff to make four pots of my award-winning chili, tomato soup, vitamins, meds, and other things. In and amongst all of that stuff were 3 pairs of New Balance tennis shoes.

I brought desert boots as well as street shoes, but a majority of the time I end up wearing my trusty New Balance 1020s. Given the work environment and the environment in general, they are the best choice for both comfort and functionality. As I’ve mentioned before, the environment here is covered mostly by very fine powder like sand – – in addition to that there are places with very course sand. This mixture gets into the bindings in stitches of shoes and due to the constant motion of the shoe gradually cuts the shoes apart from the inside out. Knowing this before I got here, I planned on having to change out shoes every four months.

The longer of been here, the more that my stockpile has dwindled down. As time passes, I use more and more of what I brought and my cabinets and closet gets emptier and emptier. Today is significant because I am breaking out my very last pair of new tennis shoes. This means that I am four months from the end of my tour, barring any significant world events.  I am a little late in changing out the shoes, so I’m actually only 111 days from departure rather than 120.

Due to the significance of this event, I needed to prepare a press release and have a photo op for the paparazzi.  Therefore, the change out was delayed until today but now it will go on as scheduled. 










I was promised by the local paper that the story would run on page 1 above the fold. We will see.

Of course the press didn’t bother to hang around for the less memorable and significant retirement of the old sneakers – and the subsequent horror and fleeing of the villagers.

  

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