Yeah, I’m one of those people that can never throw away old stuff. Especially shoes and clothes.

But mostly shoes.

I’m also the kind of guy that’s gonna share my dying boots on social media (ie, here), with a long caption (ie, an entire article) before I bid farewell to them and throw them in the bin.

The thing is, these are just things, but also, they aren’t. Because they’re attached to all kinds of memories and things that happened.

For the longest time, I would always go on first dates wearing the same exact white shirt.

Why? Because I wore it once and it worked. And so then it became a thing. Like a lucky charm.

As for these boots, all my life, I’ve only had two phases. I went through times where I was dead broke, and times where I had a bit of money but spent more than I should’ve, which is presumably why I kept ending up broke again. Like a vicious cycle. But I digress.

I bought these boots during a phase where I had a bit of money. I was in Ireland, in a town with a name I can’t remember near the Shannon River, I was with an ex girlfriend I still remember fondly, and we went shopping.

I bought these Clarks boots. I’d never owned a pair of boots like this before.

Desert boots, I think that’s what people call them.

I wore the heck out of them for 11 years, and had the heel replaced at least 4 times.

In 2018, I wore them on a work trip that took me a marble quarry. I got home and they were covered in marble dust and sad.

I wore them on a double date once. I still remember, because we walked the entire promenade, around 5 miles north to south, of a seaside place I sometimes used to go.

And my feet hurt like hell. Because these boots are durable and sturdy, but they’re not particularly comfortable.

I feel bad chucking them out. But the time has come, also because they’re being replaced by a pair of totally different boots. A pair of Yeezy boots.

I bet they won’t last 11 years.