Finding Shoes! (Forget "Finding Nemo"

Finding shoes ... so what is there to write about that? Well, take four little guys and Saturday nights growing up in the Boynton household. My dad was a stickler for shiny black dress shoes -- no matter what age you might be. Glad for shiny patent leather shoes for me, huh?

So on Saturday night, you would hear my dad calling to us, "Let's get your shoes shined" and then he would line the shoes up by the front door ready for Sunday morning. Only problem .. there always seemed to be at least one shoe missing! Always .. I'm not sure which boy's it was only that there was one person who would have to look for it ... "Linda, we need to find shoes!" And off I'd go to look for shoes ... and believe it or not, I would find them! And I would usually find them in plain sight!

Of course, once I got to thinking about this memory, others flooded my mind so perhaps you can bear with me as I become a little nostalgic .. okay, maybe a lot ...

I've shared before how much my dad loved being a dad -- so much so that he promised my mother that while she took care of us all day, he would take care of us all night. It was my dad who sat by my bed when I couldn't go to sleep or had a bad dream. He has reminded me even over the past months of conversations we had. I think he may have reconsidered his promise to my mom the night of my 16th birthday when we all had pizza and obviously, it was not good ... we were all sick and he was racing from one bedroom to another!! He didn't complain ...

However, when he was teaching me how to drive, I think he may have wanted to take out the parent contract and re-read it. He grabbed for the dashboard more than once! Which brings me to the last trip I would make with my parents a few years ago .. wow, I started out talking about shoes and end up taking my parents to church! (I know, I've been known to ramble a lot .. I admit it1)

It was a Sunday morning about five years ago and my parents were anxious to visit their home church, Southside Church of the Nazarene in Indianapolis. I was going to drive them there -- imagine that. Dad was going to trust me to drive! Actually, he had no choice and he hadn't driven in quite a while. My mother had but that is another story in itself.

The only problem was that Mother and Dad couldn't agree on one thing and that was, "Where are you going to drop us off before you park the van?" It was a 20 minute trip to the church and most of that 20 minute trip was discussing the pros and cons of every entrance to the church -- while there are probably only two or three, we took enough time discussing it that there may have been 10!

My dad wanted to go around the back, I believe, but my mother said there were steps and since he was in a wheelchair, that wouldn't work. Okay, maybe there weren't steps - couldn't remember for sure. I interjected that I thought I would drop them off at the front door where it was easiest -- they ignored me and continued discussing.

So my frustration level was a little high that morning .. I admit it! It was a challenge to get them both into the van and with my dad's physical challenges, we had to take along an extra bag of necessary items. (Won't go into detail there.) So, I had gotten all that done but was a little weary by this time -- and their bickering (okay, my parents didn't bicker -- they 'discussed') was getting a little wearisome. And I was sure I was going to have to say something .... soon!

Finally, I told them I where I was going to drop them off ... at the front door, period!! No argument, that was what it would be. So there .. I had done it politely, didn't raise my voice so they would have reason to chide me ... but ... my mother was so funny. Actually, she didn't think what I said was funny but she made some kind of a noise akin to a snort and said, "Well, who do you think you are?"

My answer was simple .. "I'm the one with the keys!" She said, "Well" .. and that was all!

And ... I dropped them off at the door with no complaint .. it worked well, there were greeters to help, the church actually had a wheelchair and all was good! And they never mentioned the conversation again!

Little did we know that it would be the last time they would be able to attend church outside their assisted living facility. (There were Sunday services there at Berkshire where they worshiped and also took part in the services every week.)

Back to shoes .. it was a little sad this past Wednesday night when we were cleaning Dad's room and I looked at his shoes that were going to be thrown away. They were well worn, not the usual sleek ones he wore as a young man but ones that were more focused on support and comfot. Back in the day, he would have looked at those shoes and said, "Oh, these shoes need a good shine."

Then I reminded myself that he has a brand new pair of shoes now -- ones that will never be lost again and will never need to be polished!!

Finding shoes? Oh, he's found his new ones!! And I wonder if he'll remember those days of long ago ... sweet memories!