You Never Forget Your First Pair

It’s my fault. Actually it’s your grandpa’s fault. He created this monster in the early 90s. As a father, you hope that your son enjoys the things that you may have enjoyed as a kid. I wonder what superheroes you’ll dress up as for Halloween,  what sports you might play, which athlete or movie star ‘s poster will be taped to your bedroom wall or even if you’ll prefer chocolate ice cream over vanilla. But as a rite of passage, it would be sacrilegious (this will be a spelling word in a few years) for your 1^st pair of shoes not to be an Air Jordan. My 1st pair of shoes were a pair of powder blue & white Nikes that zipped up, and to this day, your grandfather still has them in a tin Nike box in his top drawer. There’s an indescribable feeling as I tied your 1^st pair of shoes like I was handing down a legacy….more like an expensive habit. As we stood in front of our closet wearing our diaper & Fruit of The Looms, we gazed at our options making life decisions of how cool we wanted our feet to look that day. You mumbled something so I assume my choice met your infant approval. 

This means nothing to you now & you won’t remember getting them. You never saw him play, and I can’t wait for our debates of how you think Lebron Jr, Westbrook Jr, or Durant Jr is better than the Greatest of All Time. Sure, there will be a player whose jersey you’ll beg me to buy, and I’ll respond just like grandpa when I asked him for the latest sneaker and he said “Those cost $150!” There’s no doubt that you’ll be well adjusted to the Jumpman lifestyle because your grandpa kept me in a fresh pair. I think my 1^st pair was in 1991 as a first grader. One day you’ll appreciate the new shoe smell and coordinating outfits to match, or you'll like the Batman velcro shoes 100 times more,  but right now you just at this foreign object preventing you from putting your toes in your mouth. Like Father, Like Son.