At ten I was a Roy Rogers fan in the biggest way possible.  I wanted to be just like him.  I had a cowboy hat, quiet a few cap pistols, an imaginary horse and pretty much everything else.  What I didn't have were real cowboy boots.  I had boots that looked something like cowboy boots, but they lacked the heels.  They were basically flat as pancakes on the bottom.  Even so I wore them until they fell apart.

  Fast forward 40 years...  I was shoe shopping and I spotted a pair of cowboy boots that looked to me like the ones I had as a kid.  Red and blacke leather uppers but these had heels.  They were in the correct size and most importantly marked way down.  Way way down.  $15.00. I had to have them.  I was well beyond "mid-life-crisis" and I hadn't quite shifted into "senility mode", but I bought them anyway.

  When I got them home, problems began to arise immediatly.  How do I get them on my feet?  I couldn't really point my toes and just pull.  I crammed, I stuffed.  I yanked.  I tried shoe horns.  Nothing worked well but they were finally on my feet. 

  Next problem...  My feet are designed for very little variation in heel height.  They can go from maybe 1/2 an inch to almost a full inch, but not the two inch leap.  I had a choice.  I could get my heels on the floor and stand erect, but the toes wouldn't touch.  Or I could get both the heels and toes down flat, but I couldn't straighten my knees.  This wasn't too bad on my right side, I have a real knee there.  The left side just wanted to buckle.  Frump.

  Since I was late going to meet friends for dinner at a local resturant I decided to risk just navigating with just my heels hitting the ground.  I looked like an idiot, but I did find one ray of hope.  The resturant had a ramp.  Using that my feet actually hit the ground.  At least going in.  Out would be another story.  I had to back down the same ramp.  I could have died of embarassement.  How did I get into this situation? 

  What brings this up is the other day I was cleaning out the bottom of my closet and found my black and red cowboy boots, tops crushed by the weight of other things tossed on top.  I looked at them and gave them the pitch.  I don't need footgear that mocks me.