One thing I love about a new academic year; we have a legitimate excuse for buying new shoes.

When I was a child it would be one good functional pair of shoes that we wore all school year long, forever labeled and referred to as, “school shoes”. Ultimately the first days of school would end with a slight limp, sore heels or even bleeding from the rubbing of the hard-backed shoes during the day.

So, here I am today, at SMSU for my second round at college and on the first day of the semester on the way to my first class, I can feel the skin rubbing off my heels from my new school shoes.

(Just one of three pairs of new ‘school shoes’ I indulged in.) Consequently, I had to make a quick stop to the bookstore and hastily grabbed the last box of Band-Aids at the checkout. (I apologize now if I left any of you with- out Band-Aids on the first day of classes.) I then plied on multi-layers of strips of all sizes and tried to walk naturally to my first class, which of course was three buildings away. But then, when isn’t it?

By the time I journeyed back to my car after class, I was visibly hobbling and immediately threw down the new school shoes as I got into the car. After a big sigh of relief, I stared at the shoes on the passenger side car mat and thought, “Boy, those sure are cute shoes and they were a bargain as well.”

The next day before I left for class, I reapplied a copious amount of bandages to my heels, put on a pair of short-thick bootie socks and my Air Walk sandals. After all, it was the second day of school and I was over 40 years old. That’s right. I’m a product of the 80s. I attended and graduated high school and college (the first time) all during the 80s. That gives me a couple of valid excuses for wearing socks with sandals. I refer to it as the 80/40 rule.

Think what you want, but I suspect you too will some day wear socks with sandals when you finally accept comfort does trump fashion…at least some times.