Funny how a pair of old boots can steal a place in your heart. I bought these boots all the way back in 2003 whilst at University, it’s strange to think they are older than my nephews who are starting senior school this year, it’s strange to think of just how many places I had never visited before I put those boots on my feet and started walking, it is also strange to think just how many pairs of boots, trainers and other types of foot ware they have out lived and yet now it is time for them to rest.
To put it into perspective these boots are 14 years old, they have almost touched soil in every continent, they have been a reliable companion on many a journey and never complained about the distance or the terrain they simply kept going. They have scaled mountains both in dry conditions and the snow, they have walked through rain forests and desserts, they have walked back and forth tirelessly almost everyday for 14 years. There’s that saying, ‘if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it’, well they’ve come to the end of their journey, the outside of the boot started to wear many years ago and yet they were fine to walk and hike in, however the inside of the boot has finally succumbed to the wearing passing of time and now the boot digs into the heel when it never use to.
Part of me thinks let’s fix them and give them more journeys to experience underfoot and the other part says ‘when your times up, your time is up’ and although I wish it not to be the latter as these old boots simply know my walk and my ways I almost feel it’s not fair to ask more of them after they have given so much.
A lyric runs through my head ‘the hardest part is letting go not taking part’, I hear it truly and of course these are not the first things in my life that I have had to part with, but they have reminded me of what happens over the course of a decade and more, of how much life changes, of how things that were have moved on and things I could not have known about are now here, for example I have two wonderful children now.
The changing fortunes of time and a new pair of boots is on the horizon, this I guess is my way of showing gratitude to an old pair of boots, that were truly made for walking.
To the adventure.
The Yoga Health Coach 