Boots

Winter has come with a vengeance this year. There is tons of snow on the ground and the berms piled up on the sides of the driveway are taller than Olivia. We have had double digits in our temperature readings here in Alaska...at least positive double digits. That wasn't the case right before Thanksgiving..those would be negative double digits then.

At any rate, this is not a post about the weather. It is a post about footwear.

I was talking with a friend of mine about the much needed real estate in my closet for a lot of shoes and wondered aloud about the row of sexy high heels that I own taking up a precious half shelf.  And silently I realized that with the onset of so much snow and cold I won't wear them from now until the pavement is clear and dry again.  What a shame, I thought.  I love my heels and the long pants that I can wear with them to give me the illusion of lengthy legs and higher heights.

But then I thought about the boots I own.  And on further discussion I counted 7 pairs of boots. I own SEVEN paris of boots. One for each dwarf, if you will. Or each day of the week. However, each pair represents a different function in my life and a different.

Here is the inventory:

2 pair of low heeled knee high riding boots (one black and one brown pair of the exact same style) to wear with knee length skirts to church.
1 very tall heeled black platform boot that hits mid calf that I got for $3. I wear these with long pants that will drag in the snow without the help of a 4 inch stacked heel.  They have a rubber sole so they work well in the winter here.
1 other pair of mid calf black boots that aren't as tall but pinch my toes so I never wear them. But my mother got them for me on our last shopping trip the Christmas before I got married so I keep them
1 pair of hiking boots.  But you'll never guess where I wear those :)
1 pair of sweater slouchy Uggs...I honestly don't know why I own them. But I do wear them when slippers aren't appropriate.

1 pair of Adirondack Uggs that are my all around snow boots.  Best boots ever. But very utilitarian (translation: not cute)

Oh and I guess it is actually 8 since I am forgetting my lace up Northface boots that I wear over leggings or jeans on snowy days that I have to run errands and want to look nicer.

And I am forgetting my cross country ski boots and my down hill ski boots. So now I guess the total is up to 10.

And a half...See I lost the mate to my brown mid-calf boots in the move. I have no idea where it went yet I refuse to get rid of it because then the mate will turn up.  I rather like the idea of someday finding it and keeping that option open.

So 10 and a half pairs of boots.

Upon further reflection I realized each pair of boots represents a different facet of my life and personality   My low heeled riding boots are a compromise from dowdy, sensible church shoes and lend to my sophisticated side, while my hiking boots compliment my sense of adventure.  Meanwhile my tall platform boots are indispensable for dressing up on the bleakest of nights for a special occasion. And necessary to keep my ever dragging hems out of the muck on the street.

All of these aspects of life are fairly new to me as I have adapted up here. I actually only owned the platform boots and both halves of the brown pair before coming to Alaska. So in 3 years (and it was 3 years on December 15 of this week by the way) life has expanded for me.  I have grown with it, changed with it, learned and stretched with it.

And so has my boot shelf.