New shoes make me happy. I love putting them on my feet, feeling the strangeness, the newness. I love walking in them, getting the rhythm of how they move with my feet. I love to look down and see shoes different from shoes I’ve had on yesterday, the day before. I love wiggling my toes in them, exploring. I love the new shoe smell in them, without any sweaty-foot-stink. (And come on, there’s nothing quite like sweaty-foot-stink, but not in a good way, unless you’re a dog or a ferret and love to stick your nose in those things even after I’ve pushed them under beds or couches so I wouldn’t have to smell them, but hey, if it floats your doggy or ferrety boat, have at. Still, ew.) Now, I do have a confession to make. I’m a girl who owns exactly ten pairs of footwear. That includes one pair of slippers and one pair of winter boots. Somewhere I missed out on the “I need more shoes” gene. To me, ten pairs seems like an enormous luxury. I think of people who have no shoes or people who have just a pair and they have to wear them until they’re falling apart, and then I look at my little shoe-shelf and, wow, I have ten pairs! That’s great! So today I’m going to wear my new shoes. I’m going to explore the world in them.
Tall ships make me happy. I love the sails reaching to the sky, cloudy sails billowing and filling with the wind, with the breath of the world like they’re alive, and see the sun shining off of them like they’re snowy mountain-tops. I love to see them rising high, see the ropes pulled taut, straining, restraining. I love the rigging, the daring of it, the taunt of “I dare you to climb me” inherent in it. I love the creaking of wood, the mast, the very boards of the deck. I love the sound of water on the hull, the hollow boat-sound of it, a thing floating instead of sinking. There’s power in the wind and the water, of a vessel sailing on it, with no motors, no engines. No oars, really either, just the rudder to steer her by. I wish I could sail in one, just glided on the water by the wind, standing near the prow with the wind in my hair and the scent of water everywhere. Someday, someday.
