"When Allison asked me to be a part of the beautiful piece and write a story about my shoes, I initially panicked. Over the past few weeks, I have been thinking about my shoes and if I wore them for any monumental moment in my life. I couldn't think of anything. I thought to myself that “I’m just an ordinary 22 year old who really wanted to be on trend and get the Hunter Rain Boots that everyone had that flooded Instagram and VSCO”, which is a completely honest statement. These shoes were one of those gifts that you ask for for Christmas and hope they end up wrapped under the tree (which they did - thank you Mom and Dad). And then, as I was thinking about the Christmas of 2019, the little memories behind these shoes started to flood my mind. Now, I still don’t have anything that is incredibly memorable that relates to these shoes, but I do have years of small memories that shaped me into the person I am. I wore these boots to class many times when I walked the sidewalks at the University of St.Thomas, the same place where I wore these boots when I found out I had torn my meniscus. I wore these boots to the first day of my first ever internship and Target Field. I wore these boots on dates with my boyfriend and have eaten way too much french fries wearing these boots. I have consoled friends through their hardships in life wearing these boots. I have embarrassed myself by tripping and falling up the stairs in these boots and more importantly walked the halls of many buildings as my boots squeak on the floors. But, most importantly, I have loved the life I created while wearing these boots. These boots were the sole foundation of a lot of these small core memories that I now look back on. The one thing I would take away from my shoes (and Allison’s beautiful piece) is that sometimes life is about the little memories. Of course, everyone has big memories, but it's what you do with countless little memories that can hold you sturdy, keep you grounded in life, and make you laugh at the memories you have made."
-Allison McCarthy
