Onely.Org

Great Onely Activities: Shoe Shopping — or at Least the Journey Therein October 28, 2008

OK, before (some of) you gag — this post is not actually about the wonders of shoe shopping. No — instead, it’s about how going shoe shopping recently reminded me to remember and relish my Oneliness (how’s that for some alliteration?!).

It’s true. I have been incredibly busy with school (courses and teaching) recently, and I haven’t had the time in the past few weeks to go shopping for food, much less for shoes (and barely, unfortunately, for posting here). But this weekend I made up for that – on Saturday night, after hours of school work, I rewarded my hard work with a trip to Target and then to the grocery store to purchase some much-needed essentials (the tomatoes in my veggie drawer were rotting! gross!!!!).

This shopping expedition reminded me, also, that I need to get some new black professional-looking shoes for teaching now that the weather is getting cooler here in L’ville, so on Sunday I took a break (from more work! ugh!) to head to DSW, which is my favorite common-sense shoe store (everything is organized and they always have an excellent Clearance section).

The thing is, in all of L’ville, there is only one DSW store, and it is wayyyyy out in the ‘burbs. I live in the city, so heading out there is a 20-mile jaunt — if you take the right highway! I unfortunately took the wrong highway (same exit, different lanes – you know the type) and ended up traveling probably 10 miles out of my way before realizing my mistake.

The nice thing about Kentucky is that if you end up heading out of town on the highway, you very quickly find yourself in the country – even the ‘burbs are sparsely populated. And at this time of year, the leaves are changing, and the highways cross rolling hills and cut through some heavily forested areas. When I realized my mistake, I momentarily felt the tension that I always feel when “wasting time” at this point in the semester. But then, as I pressed the gas pedal and began mentally remapping my route, I suddenly became aware of how beautiful my surroundings were: The sun was shining, the bright blue sky was made more interesting by the interruption of occasional puffs of cloud, and my hair was whipping around my head in response to the wind that my open window invited in.

At this moment, I realized that I have not been relishing much of anything – even my Oneliness – recently. Which is too bad, if this is what I’ve been missing.

— L

p.s. Incidentally, I found some great shoes!!!!