Everyone has a favorite pair of boots, right? You know…your go-to every-day pair. Reliable. Comfortable. A little worn down. Well, mine were getting a little too worn down, so I brought them to the boot repair for some new rubber on the heels. Not a big repair job, right? I’m relatively new in this town, and asked around for a reliable boot repair shop. Everyone told me the name of the same place. So on my day off, I reluctantly slipped on my #2 favorites (still, really great boots.., but you know…not the favorites) and carried the #1 pair to the car and drove to check out this shoe repair. Now, this normally wouldn’t be worth writing about. I went into the shoe repair, where the elderly craftsman carefully examined my precious, well-worn Ariats. He calmly told me that he would have them ready IN 4 WEEKS! WHAT??? Heck! That’s a long time! I didn’t stop to consider the consequences of being separated from my boots for an entire month. I rationalized that he must be very good at what he does to be so busy. He didn’t even quote me a price…and I walked out of there without my boots. It was kind of like leaving my toddler at day care for the first time. Don’t laugh! But I didn’t linger. I walked out of the store and occupied myself by going into the shop next door, which happened to be a gun store. So I was distracted and didn’t think about the boots. Until I got home. If you are like me, you have a few pair of boots. I’m not going to ask you how many pairs of boots you have (what a rookie question!), but I will let you know that they are lined up along two walls of my walk-in closet. So I have quite a selection. But there was a sad space in the boot lineup where my precious boots used to be. While they are away at the boot hospital. I’m so sad. And as much as I love my other boots, as the weeks passed, there was a little hole in my heart for the missing Ariats. Every day, I had to decide which pair of other boots to wear. Maybe those other boots are happy that I’m wearing them more. Maybe they were a little secretly jealous of that particular pair of Ariats.