Shoe Love

There is definitely "normal" shoe love. Over sweet little things like these. . . I mean, who could not love this?

But what I am talking about today is a different kind of shoe love. I have been looking at this stack of shoe boxes in my room for the past 3 weeks.
They are all full of shoes. Brand new shoes that are the right sizes for my little childrens growing feet. And every morning, I look at the pile and think, "today I should make the switch." That is, get rid of the old, too small, ratty, worn out, holey shoes that were just last year sitting in this same stack in my room, but now reside in the shoe closet downstairs. But I keep putting it off.
Because that means getting rid of all of these shoes. They really aren't suitable for goodwill. They are toasted. Worn out by a year on the playground, traveling to and from school, vacation, camping, and other general backyard shenanigans. But that's why I love them. Especially the little ones. I can't look at those royal blue shoes and not think about how many times I've chased Chandler around the back of the chair, tackled him and wrestled his shoes on him. I think that might be why it's so hard to put them in the trash bin. So I didn't, they went in the goodwill bin. Maybe someone somewhere will want them. . . saved temporarily from life at the landfill.

This is a box of shoes I keep that is labeled "shoes with life left." They make a nice step stool for Em but I really love this box because it prolongs trip to the goodwill box.

And then there's the box of shoes labeled "sentimental." Those are keepers for sure. . . Baby shoes, first stompers, etc.
Isn't that weird? I'm so not sentimental about clothes. I can hardly wait to fill the goodwill bin with old clothes, I get so tired of the same thing over and over. But shoes. . . I could fill the garage! Is anyone else out there as compulsive about these little leather wonders as I am? Surely I am not alone in my insanity. . . or perhaps you have a different compulsion?