These Old Boots

"Why don't you throw out those boots? They're old and scuffed and the heels are gone. You should get rid of them."

That was the motherly advice I received recently. I admitted that they were in pretty bad shape, but told her that I was too attached to discard them just yet.

I got these black, steel-toed boots when I was an engineering trainee during my senior year of college. I was part of a crew that monitored sanitary and storm sewers. It was practical experience for my environmental engineering concentration and an improvement over my internship at the water pollution control plant.

As a quick aside, my major gripe at the time wasn't about the smell or sticking my head down manholes. I complained about having to get up so early. There was a reason why I had no classes before ten and starting work before six seemed to defeat the purpose.

Anyway, the job was almost all fieldwork. We would collect data from various manholes all over the city and perform analysis back at the office. To get the readings required removing many heavy and usually uncooperative covers. Fearing that I would accidentally plant a lid on my foot, the company provided me with boots.

Although I didn't think much of them at the time, the boots are now a reminder of the progress I've made since then. There will be a point, in the not too distant future, when I'll be mature and practical enough to keep the memories and toss the boots. But until then, I'll probably wear them until the bottoms fall off completely.