Shoes for Humans

Confession: I shopped at Payless Shoe Source today.

Yes, I know... They are junky shoes! They are cheap (and I don't mean in the "good bargain" kind of way) -- plus they sometimes smell funny. But they're great for kids! Especially full-throttle boys who dirty, scuff, and outgrow their footwear regularly.

So, Miles and I went shoe-shopping for his two little feet. I told him, if he would buy a pair of plain white tennis shoes like I wanted him to have, I would consider buying him some "hero shoes" like he wanted to have. What a sight we must have been, both of us slightly dumbstruck by the rows and rows of boxes laid out in sideways bar graphs, floor to near-ceiling, in every kids' size. Drawing the most attention would be the disheleved, bed-headed little kid, wearing a SpiderMan track suit with socks and Tevas, alternately reverent and frenetic over the "AWESOME boxes, LOOK, Mom, DARTH VADER!" Next to him, I probably appeared a prematurely aged, put-upon mother, all serious face devoid of makeup, purse tightly gripped and brows knitted in the concentrated act of spotting a single pair of conservative, Velcro size 9s amid all the pop-culture crap.

Then Miles spoke up: "See over there?" (The men's section, at the back.) "With the big numbers? Those are not shoes for me. Those are shoes for humans."

"Honey [and here I likely exhibited the growing edge in my voice], kids ARE humans."

"Nu-uh. I'm just a boy. I am 3. Tomorrow I will be 4. But I won't be a human for a LOOOONG time! Humans are ALL grown up! And I am not!"

Well, now you see what I'm up against. Unassailable logic at every turn.
:) Happy early birthday to a little boy who will soon enough become a full-fledged human. And who, for now, might actually be something better.