Monday, January 4, 2016

I Love My Cowboy Boots



This is Katherine.  I have a ton of things I need to do before we leave for Mexico the day after tomorrow.  I don't know why I am doing this.  I don't know why I do a lot of things.

I needed to get some medical papers together for Franny while we were going to be out of town.  Mom has had a couple of emergency trips of late and my brother has moved to Tennessee.  Handing them to her was a confirmation of what I already know--the girl has a great heart and always has.  I admire and respect her.  She does not, however, really understand cowboy boots.  I am a failure as a mother here.

When I was younger, the fact that my kids did not admire and adapt my taste was not a big deal.  They were, after all, entitled to their taste and privacy and secrets and all sorts of things that a reasonable young parent thought was well, reasonable.

Now, however,I wished they emulated me more.  I would like Franny, for instance, to  like cowboy boots.  It's a weird sort of immortality.  I could see myself in her when she wore cowboy boots.  I realize this is stupid, but it would be nice if more than my hair color went her way (she doesn't like that either).

Also, I have really cool cowboy boots that I will need to pass on and Franny just doesn't go for them and her feet are the wrong size and Brooklyn is not into cowboy stuff at all and Sammi's orthopedic devices are apt to be limiting and Christine and Ashley don't fit either because they have small feet which I definitely do not have.  That leaves Willa and Jaydee.  They are are my last chances for some cowboy boot enthusiasm and a place to send my really good boots when the time comes.

I bought Willa pink sparkly cowboy boots for Christmas.    We will see if Willa likes boots.  Surely there is a cowboy boot gene in the family somewhere.

Anyway,  if you ask a regular cowboy boot devotee about their boots,  that person can tell you the story of the boots or personal stories that simply wouldn't have happened without the boots.  For whatever reason, with packing and errands and laundry that needs doing at the moment, I feel the need to catalog the stories of my cowboy boots.  What can I say?

1.  The Baker's Brown Boots.  I came home from CSU for Thanksgiving and my dad, uncharacteristically, asked me if I wanted anything before I went back to school.  I asked for cowboy boots so I could hide a pint of liquor in the shaft of the boot.  He thought it was hilarious and took me to a mall type store (Baker's) and bought me some imitation cowboy boots that I wore for years.  It was the only gift my dad bought directly for me.

2.  The Nine West Series.  My years as a young teacher were spent in leggings and flashy Nine West imitation boots.  There was an all white pair with fringe and silver covered heels, a red and black pair, and a green and tan pair with cool engraving.  I lived in them.

3.  The Steamboat Boots.  Franny was going to Dustan and playing competitive softball.  She had a cool tournament in Steamboat and I wandered the stores during a lull between games.  In the back part of a main street store I found a pair of black and white Larry Mahan boots that were the softest calf leather I have ever known.  These were my first real boots.  These were the first I had fitted by a pro.  The boots were the only pair left and in my size.  They were $500 boots (years and years ago) for $85.  It was my first Gold Medal in Olympic Shopping.  It also meant I could never buy imitation cowboy boots again.  Walking in the Larry Mahan boots was different.  I was in love.

4.  The Judy Boots.   These boots were the first in a series of boots bought in Jackson, Wyoming and the name is just what they were called by the boot designer--I've always figured he had a wonderfully romantic vision of a girl named Judy in mind when he designed them.

For years and years Jackson felt the need to put cowboy boots on sale when I was there and whenever our finances could accommodate some boots, I took advantage and went boot shopping although I didn't find anything in my size for years.  I bought my first Jackson boots from a store that no longer exists.  The boots are brown and white and hand-stitched and scuplted and were my everyday shoes for the last ten years of my teaching career.  They are in my closet.  They are pretty tight.  I won't part with these.

5.  The Jackson Lucchese Series.  
A.  Emma's boots.  When I've bought boots in Jackson it was because we were staying in the Tetons nearby at Jenny Lake Lodge.  We were friends with the manager at Jenny and one year her daughter (Emma) was getting married in a field up there.  Emma accented her wedding dress with some pre-Uggs style boots that I was tracking down at The Bootlegger in Jackson.   I missed the Emma-style boots, but found my first pair of Lucchese boots and scored my second Gold Medal in Olympic Shopping.  There, in the stack of boots in my size, was a pair meant for me.   They were a style that was two years old and about $1,000 off and well, what could I do?

My first Lucchese Boots were the best fitting boots I had ever worn up until that point.  I have more Lucchese's now so I have several pair that feel this way.  This first pair has a sky blue vamp made of ostrich and a shaft is a lime green goat.   They are soft and comfy and have my favorite heel--it slants back.  These are Emma's boots because her wedding led me to Lucchese.

A cool side effect of Emma's boots is that the night I bought them,  I walked across the dining room at Jenny in an outfit selected to show off the boots and a man came over and to talk about them and I had the first of many Lucchese conversations I've had in my life.  Jim and I have been friends with Joe and his wife Carol ever since that moment.   Carol just sent a photo of her grey suede boots--Lucchese's.

B.  The Red and Black Boots.  These were the last of the Jackson boots.  Lucchese's again.  The red pair came first about five years after Emma's boots.  They are patterned with red leather over black and heavy because of that.  They are my first choice on a winter's day when there is no snow.  I don't know how real cowboys wore the suckers in the snow--they are slippery.

The black boots are my everyday pair now.  These are the shoes my teachers would identify as mine if they notice at all.  They are just comfy and basic and I don't know how I would go through the world without them.

Both of these were on sale and the cheapest of any of my boots because of the sale and my luck--my size was sitting in the stacks of boots.  Jackson doesn't have big July sales anymore.   The Bootlegger has a back room, but the wonderful boots don't go back there anymore.  I figured out I bought the black boots the first year I started coaching teachers through Metro State eleven years ago.  I haven't bought any boots up there since then.   The Jackson period is done.

6.  The Sante Fe Boots.  These are the dream boots.  I suspect they will be the last pair of boots I buy.

I always wanted a pair of boots that were appropriate for animal rights and were made of snake or lizard or something like that.  I wanted rattlesnake mostly.  There was a time that was okay and Lucchese had them on their website.   Then they stopped.    For a while they had manta ray boots, but they were stiff and had a weird sheen I didn't like.  I don't think anyone liked the manta ray boots.  I stopped looking.

Then I discovered Santa Fe.  Several years ago we started going to the Santa Fe Opera in August.  I found a Lucchese store on the Plaza.  I found a real live store devoted to my brand of boots and only my brand of boots.  This is the promised land for a girl like me.

I looked many times at this store over a number of years.  I saved my money.  I looked at the store many more times.  I saved more money.  Last spring when we met Joe and Carol for dinner in Santa Fe, I found my dream boots.  Cayman and available in three colors for an outrageous amount of money.  I had saved money.  I was close.  We were going back in August for the opera.  The chances were good the boots would still be there in August.  All I had to do was pick my color.  Red, black tan.  I think I wore out the Lucchese website looking at them and trying to decide.

We went to the opera and the day we arrived, Jim went with me and I bought my dream boots and we walked over to the rooftop at the Coyote Cafe and celebrated with margaritas.  The next evening  I wore them to Rigoletto.  After the performance I went into the shop to buy Brooklyn a birthday gift and the tenor who sang Rigoletto stopped to talk about my boots in between signing autographs.  It made my day and I still feel badly I didn't buy a CD and have him sign it.  It was the first of the boots stories.  They are amazing boots.  I love them.  I look forward to all the stories they will create.

One last thing and I am done.  There are rules about boots that I follow and must share.
1.  Take good care of cowboy boots and they will last forever.  Re-heel them yearly.  Re-do the whole bottom as needed.  Maintenance is everything with cowboy boots.  If my feet don't grow anymore, my boots will last as long as I do.

2.  If you are a real cowboy or a real cowgirl, wear as much cow-gear as your heart desires.  But if you are just in love with how the gear looks or feels, then limit yourself to one thing at a time.  If you wear a cowboy shirt, then wear only that.  If you wear your boots, limit yourself to the boots.  You just can't pull off too much cowboy gear if you don't ride a horse or rope a cow now and then.

3.  Get a good fitting.  They need to pull up a bit at the heel.  It's impossible to explain.

4.  Let the boots bring you stories and people.  For whatever reason, people like to talk about boots.  Let them talk and then talk back.  Friendships, no matter how brief they are or how they are devised, are to be enjoyed and cherished.  Just like Pete the Cat loves his white, then red, then blue, then brown, then wet shoes,  I love my cowboy boots.  Love makes them magic.




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