They're not red and they're not new. The story about these shoes goes back all the way to 1992. It was the first pair of shoes I bought upon arriving in Munich, Germany. I needed something very comfortable for long walks. This pair of Rieker shoes was just incredibly comfortable, very flexible, made from soft hazelnut brown leather with a buckle on the side. Not my style at all, but, although normally rather expensive, they were reduced by 70% because one buckle was detached. I new I could sew it back on so I bought them. They served me well, my feet were very happy and light in them and they took me places...
When we left Germany for Canada in 1998, I must have thrown them in one of the bags and so they moved to another continent with me. I wore them a couple more times but soon they started looking old and really worn out. Somehow I couldn't bring myself to throw them away and so they lived on quietly in a dark corner of my entry closet.
Then one day I was reading an article on FlyLady about effective house cleaning and she said you should put your shoes on when doing chores. This tip really picked my curiosity and I wanted to try this method and see if it makes a difference. When I started looking for a pair of shoes to use I found my old, comfortable Riekers again. And it made a difference. I felt more stable, I was stronger and faster. From then on, I didn't put my old shoes on every time I had to clean but I thought of them when I had an incredible amount of things to do at home and very little time. I was always under the impression that, with these shoes on, I was able to accomplish such an amount of chores in very little time that I myself was in awe... I started to call them "My Magic Shoes". Soon my husband started to notice the ginormous positive effect of these old shoes on my speed and my mood. He loved the change so much that he himself suggested often: "Why don't you put those magic shoes of yours on?"
I can't believe I have an 18-year-old pair of shoes that I still use! They're barely holding together, but I'm pretty sure that they can't be easily replaced by any pair of shoes - they must be very special. They are my very special old magic shoes.
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