Shoes in the Hallway

We had trouble remembering most every. single. year. I've got to give credit to my brother; it's because of him that, all but probably the very last year we were living in our childhood bedrooms (which would've been his senior year of high school, my junior year) he's the reason I'd put a pair of shoes outside my bedroom door for Saint Nicholas.

For some reason we didn't grow up really acknowledging saints' days in our household. For numerous reasons I've since learned quite a few; some I can more specifically pinpoint the exact day of the month than others. As a kid I'd just remember that Saint Nicholas Day was in the single-digit days of December. Not too shabby, though not great either.

We'd be getting ready for bed (as we were supposed to be) simultaneously. We'd be figuring out what we'd be wearing to school the following day & making sure that our homework was in place...Getting our teeth brushed before we were to be turning out the hallway light & officially crawling in bed. He'd call to me from his room next door & say something like, "Put a pair of shoes outside your door tonight." Or, "Don't forget about putting your shoes in the hallway before you get in bed." I'd find a pair quickly & put them in place right away so as not to forget...At least not for another 365 days! 😂

Most years this exchange would happen before the hallway light got switched off & before we were nestling into our flannel sheets & blankets. A few times he had to get up after we'd hit the hallway light switch, as well as our respective bedroom switches, & specifically come to my door & knock because he'd forgotten until after he'd been laying there unwinding.

I'd likely have grabbed these, or in later years maybe these if the company had begun selling them by that time; I don't believe the latter pair had been on the market during my really young years. Another likely option would've been these. I remember, probably around the time I was in junior high, I'd just gotten a new pair & was "testing them out" & making sure they fit well, initially wearing them only in the house after having purchased them with Mom along.

Dad & I were waiting outside to get in the family minivan; it was after dinner & well beyond dusk on a late Fall day. I believe we were all headed back to school at night for an event. As I walked down the front walk, which led to the driveway, I said aloud, "Well, I won't be able to take these shoes back to the store anymore." since I'd just walked outside while wearing them, a big "no, no" for store return policies at that time.

Dad's response while chuckling at me, "You weren't going to return them anyway." as he smiled & turned his body mid-chuckle & smacked his lips together in satisfaction of knowing how right he really was. His hands stowed in his pants pockets (even while he'd be slowly walking about) & wearing his Fall jacket unzipped so the front portions of the jacket's fabric bunched up underneath of his arms, into his armpits all the while classically wearing one of these atop his head. This was standard "Dad Look". Yes, Dad, true, very true. I only owned a pair of this type of shoe at most every point of my adolescence. Really, I may've had more of them than of that which is in the image link. Most of the pants I wore went well with this sort of shoe; it was "my thing".

I really can't recall even one year that I thought about placing my shoes outside my bedroom door all on my own. I'd have so much anxiety about the next day & general preparation. With school projects & assignments due, I'd not left a moment to squeeze in my psyche about setting a pair of my shoes outside my bedroom door before falling asleep.

That final year before we began spending our Saint Nicholas Day's studying for fall semester college finals in our dorm rooms, or at least somewhere on the campus of the college where we were attending, (which is when Mom began mailing to us at college what would've been left in our shoes had we been living in our bedrooms back at their house rather than in our dorm rooms) we completely forgot. That's right. I was already on a life-long roll of never remembering & my brother basically "took a year off" 😂 Ha, ha!

So Mom got out a pair of her shoes; I do believe it was just one pair, (maybe sort of similar to how we shared this pair? 😎😂) & she put what would've been in our shoes, in each of her shoes, for us. Our pairs of shoes would've been placed side-by-side along a section of wall separating our bedrooms, which, from the hallway might've measured about 4' wide, tops. It was in this same few feet of space that Mom had left her two shoes (rather than two pairs) bumper-to-bumper. So her pair of shoes had been left sitting "together" though serving this dual purpose; it worked.

Even after college graduation Mom would mail a package to where I was living at the time. Something happened, maybe a decade later, a kerfuffle, if you will. Mom basically said, "Well, since that's happened..." And our packages seized to be. The kerfuffle had been a misunderstanding (ostensibly the exact definition of a kerfuffle), though Mom's never reignited sending said packages in this way....Except, I believe, with her grandchildren. 😞

Special, specific memories of certain Saint Nicholas Day shoe finds? I know Mom explained that whatever she'd collected that had been intended for our stockings...Something that would've been "stocking overflow"...That's the sort of thing she'd (I mean, Saint Nicholas would 😎😍) have set aside to fill our shoes.

The whole of the Day is ultimately a bittersweet one; it's obvious I'm left with some "oh, well" memories in regard to Mom, while at the same time it's an acknowledgement, a nod to my brother, on truly being a big brother (& perhaps a loving one at that? 😇😍😂). Even if only for a moment, once a year. 😇😍😂😎😛

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