Comfort in repetition allows an adventurous spirit to thrive.

Comfort in repetition allows an adventurous spirit to thrive.

There are certain things in life I like a certain way. When I find a pair of jeans that fit well, I buy multiple pairs. My wardrobe isn’t exactly known for its great variety (anymore). I have favorite foods and I eat little else. And I’ve been wearing the same kind of boot for the last decade, ordering a new pair about every 1.5 years as the current footwear is (no pun intended) on its last legs. Once I find something that works – especially in footwear – I’m loathe to change it. So imagine the cold sweat that soaked my frame when I realized my current boots needed replacing NOW and – horrors! – the manufacturer (from what I could ascertain) had stopped making the model number I knew and loved!

OK, I realize this story probably isn’t that gripping so far, and the idea that I would have to change the boot I wear seems trivial, but maybe it isn’t. Maybe the reason I’m so eager to explore all kinds of things, and suck in all kinds of information, and swim in all kinds of new experiences is because there are certain tent poles of stability (and is it so wild to suggest they might be built out of food and clothes that make me feel like me, allowing me to act more outrageously as me?) that afford me the freedom to do so?

Who knows? But I’m going to go with “maybe it does.”

Anyway, the manufacturer had ceased production on my favorite model of boot and while I wasn’t looking forward to it I began to peruse similar models in hopes of finding something that’d make for a suitable replacement. Nothing was quite right so I started scanning various online outlets in hopes of finding something an lo and behold, in a store I’d never heard of before there was my boot! In my size! And there was only one pair left! And on sale with a discount code I sussed out in another nook on another website!

So I bought the boots and they showed up today. I think there was a larger lesson in here somewhere, probably in the connection I was trying to make between balancing the known with the unknown. Instead I think it showcases the worth of perseverance and not giving up hope, but even that’s probably too lofty a point to pin on it.

So let’s just leave it as a nice story of a boy happy about finding the perfect replacement for his favorite shoes. This tale has been brought to you by Monday.