There Must be a Story Here
[From my Instagram post. A Year or two ago.]
For those of my followers who track my movements or care where I am at any given time, here’s some help: I’m not wandering the forests of the North Country at this time. I’m in New York City for the usual doctors appointments, Mariam’s meetings and visits with friends. I also get a chance to check in with my son, Brian. At this very moment I am avoiding the 91 degrees on the street by hiding out in Room 712 of the Marriott Courtyard…just across the street from Macy’s.
I’ve spent the last few hours pondering shoes.
A few years ago, I found myself strolling east on 35th Street in Manhattan, across the street from this hotel. I noticed two pairs of men’s shoes (rather spiffy, I must say) neatly placed near a subway entrance. I took a photo and put it out on Instagram. [See the above]
Yesterday Mariam and I were heading to Macy’s for some real shopping. Most, if not all the shops in the area where we live would fit inside Macy’s city-block sized store. Something caught my eye. A flash of pink. I looked down and there was a single sneaker, pink and small. The owner must have been a little girl (my assumption) of about four years of age. I tried to piece together a scenario the would result in how a lone toddler’s sneaker would be by a subway entrance on a very busy corner. The parent was either carrying the child and the shoe fell off or the sneaker fell off a foot while being pushed in a stroller.
Whatever. The shoe still went missing.
But, the pink shoe made me sad. Across the street was the other subway entrance where I photographed the men’s shoes.
The street of lost shoes.
I hoped the parent of the toddler was not a needy person. A child’s shoe is important. Missing a shoe can be a financial burden.
What was the story about the man who left two perfectly fine shoes on the street? Homeless? Destitute? Or well-off and was too tired of carrying around four extra shoes.
Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so observant. I could easily have mistaken the pink sneaker for a candy wrapper. But I had to stop, think it over and take a picture.
I had to share my feelings of lost & found objects. There’s a story behind everything that is left behind…on a trail in the woods or on a hot steamy pavement of a ridiculously large city like New York.
Life is hard enough. It’s unbearable when you don’t have a proper shoe to carry you over the rough patches, the puddles, the snow drifts and the broken glass.
[The Pink Shoe]
