This Boot's Life

During my freshman year of college I bought a pair of brown Doc Maarten's. I don't remember why, but there must have been some purpose for these boots. Unless I just wore Doc Maarten's back then, which is entirely possible. I remember them being a little tight when I bought them, but figured the leather would stretch.

These became my work boots. I wore them in lab classes that required boots - Chemistry, Concrete, etc. I wore them when I started working for field visits. And they were always a little tight.

Then in November 2002, Tayler and I bought our condo. One of the first nights we owned it, he was working at the house while I went to Home Depot to buy paint. As I was putting the blue paint into my trunk, the lid opened and blue paint spilled all over me. My shirt, pants, sweatshirt, and the boots. One of the boots was entirely blue. The asphalt was blue too - for years until they recently repaved it. We would park at Home Depot and laugh at our paint spot.

Funny aside: I was so covered in paint I didn't want to get in my leased car with cloth seats to drive home. So I made Tayler bring me a change of clothes. We both had Nextel phones at the time. Ten minutes after I called him he buzzes me and says "Where are you?" I said "Aisle Two". He says "Me too! But you aren't here!" I said "Contractor Aisle Two". He said "Jaime - I am in Contractor Aisle Two. You are not here. Where are you?" I said "Stop screwing around! I am at Home Depot in Contractor Aisle Two!" He said "I'll be right there - I'm at Lowes!"

Back to boots: So now that one of the boots was blue and one was brown I decided to start looking for a new pair. A good pair of work boots are hard to find for a woman.

Fast forward to Fall 2006. Tootsie was just born. The boots are now extremely tight since I gained half a shoe size with his pregnancy. I make a resolution to FIND NEW BOOTS. But I continue wearing them out of convenience's sake.

A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning out the trunk of my car and came across the boots. I always kept them in the car in case of a surprise site visit to a construction site. I threw the boots away figuring that they wouldn't even go on my feet now that I am pregnant again. I resolved to buy a new pair after Flick is born.

Then this morning as I was getting dressed I realized I was on my way to a construction site with NO BOOTS. Shit! I wore sneakers and prayed that no one would say anything. And they didn't. But now Boot Hunt 2008 is on. I have to go back to this site in four weeks - so that is my deadline. Any suggestions?