A full rack of shoes

Did you ever have a pair of shoes that you just couldn't let go of?

The soles are worn, the laces are thread bare or replaced already, you may have had to put new insoles in, the stitching might be pulling away, the color is faded (at best) though you tell yourself it's not, they might smell (but who's foot level anyway right?), they cost you so much you swore you'd be buried in them one day, they have both gone out of style and come back into style, they remind you of days gone by or days to come, they 'feel' like a lazy sunny day, and you've broken them in 'just so'. Each and every time you place your feet in those comfy shoes, it's like you've arrived home.

Comfy Shoes. Sighhhhhhhh.

Which brings me to friends. Comfy shoes and friends, hmm, yeah, I get the similarity. Now just wait, hold on. Did you ever get the chance to cross paths with one of your dearest, oldest friends, someone special to you in a way that is almost intangible? Someone that may live hours, if not continents away, someone that you rarely see so you treasure it even more.

For me, those dear friends, are ones who really know you best and love you for being exactly you (warts and all) AND they've let you into their world and shared their inner soul too. They neither put you on a pedestal for having some freaking virtue that they don't have (you're so strong... blech, sick of that) or look down at you in the gutter for the virtues you don't possess (ahhh, behold the power of being a judger). Well I treasure the days I can spend with them. Ever the more sweet because of the distance.

Recently, a friend of mine came for a visit for a week, and it was like being reunited with a pair old shoes that someone hid while I wasn't looking! And all too soon someone hid them again.

I love me some comfy shoes.

Sighhhhhhh.

I wish for everyone that the shoe rack of your life overflows with comfy shoes. We should all be so lucky.