Front Porch Views

Let me welcome you to a new series of stories and articles entitled "Front Porch Views".  When I was a kid growing up in Webster City, Iowa I spent many days sitting on the steps of our front porch at 308 East Dubuque Street.  It was from that front porch that I could see my world going by.  At that time the world was pretty small and life simple.  I dreamed about the year 2000 and would figure how old I would be when that year rolled around.  Boy has my view from then to now changed.  There was no thought of cable TV, cellphones, Internet, computers, etc.  Gosh we had a black and white TV that took on a good day 10 minutes to warm up!  And then you were limited to three channels to choose from.
Life was much less hectic and complicated.  It was what we call today the "little things" that were "big things" then.  And with "Front Porch Views" I hope to share with readers some personal memories of those "little things" and how they might help all of us keep life in perspective today.  So read on and enjoy.  Go back to your 'front porch' and remember those times that made you happy.
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A friend of mine who knows that I'm an adventure runner mentioned that "hey it's getting nice and about time for you to start running outside again this year."  "Yep" I replied, "I need to go get my new shoes for this season."  You see runners like me research our shoes.  I'll buy magazines like Runner's World and Trailrunner to read their shoe reviews.  They cover everything from comfort to stability, grip, color, are they shoes with zips laces or regular laces, what's the toebox like, are they built with GoreTex, and the list goes on and on. To say that runners are very particular about their shoes in an understatement.  It's serious business in a silly sort of way.
It was then that I remembered sitting on my front porch as a kid.  Each year when school was out for the summer Mom would buy my sister and I a pair of new tennis shoes.  The anticipation was overwhelming.  NEW TENNIS SHOES!!  Let's see high tops or low tops?  Duh only geeks wear high tops.  Black, red or white?  Red...red was cool.  Keds or Converse?  Hands down Converse...little kids wear Keds.  Oh and the shoes were canvas...period.  That's all there was.  I think we went either to local shoe store on Main Street USA or maybe Montgomery Wards...whoever had the best deal.  My mother probably spent less than $10 for both pairs together.  But NEW TENNIS SHOE DAY was the coolest day of the year!  I loved NEW TENNIS SHOE DAY.  When you put on your new tennis shoes one of the first things you did was show your friends.  Then you went to see just how fast you could run and how high you could jump.  This was living and life just didn't get any better.
Well its time to go get my new specialized Trail Running Shoes for this season.  My mother would have a fit if she knew that I will easily spend $100 or more for these shoes than $5  for the 1964 canvas Converse.
But one thing won't change.  I'll still be the coolest kid on the block with my new shoes.  I'll show them to family and friends.  I'll lace them up and go see how fast I can run and how far I can jump.  Hey a guy can dream...or with NEW TENNIS SHOES reminiscence.  It really is a simple thing...shoes.  Little did I know sitting on my front porch back then that shoes would still make me happy even today.