One Photo: One Story; Boots

After a heart-rending separation and divorce experience, small things would catch my eye and I’d find myself plunged into self-analysis and inventory. I’d get a glimpse of my son’s lonely bike in small yard of his mother’s house after I dropped him off at school. A T-shirt he left on the chair of my small apartment or his toothbrush on the sink would get me thinking.

One night as we started a weekend together, I noticed his boots next to mine. He wanted ones just like them. Leather, brown tops and laces so he could be just like me. The boots were almost identical out of the box. He was so happy our boots matched. What grasped my attention was mine were torn, tattered, weathered and stained ravaged by time and a torn soul. I snapped a photo.

As I see it now. Many years later, I see a son and his dad in step pointed toward the future. There is a chance for redemption, to correct our course should we be off track. At times parents can be like the old shoe; a little tattered and worn out. However, with time and reflection, we can slip them off put on a new pair and walk a different path together wiser and more comfortable.