The Shoe Story

Last Friday I was getting supper ready, puttering in my kitchen when my niece Brodie posed a question. She had arrived a couples hour earlier, with her Dad, cousin and friend, they were at the ranch to chase some cows. After sitting visiting with me while I prepped things something made her think about an odd sight she had seen and she said, “hey Auntie K, why is there a shoe on top of your Bronco?” “Hmmm?” I pondered for a split second before I realized what I had done and a light version of sadness hit me. One shoe on top of the car eh? Oh no. Russell came into the kitchen, I told him what we had just figured out. He got a little quiet. About one minute later he said, “okay Kath, I put it on facebook and I tagged a bunch of people I think might see it in their travels.” I was a little bit, tiny bit, ticked off. Thats my shoe and I should be the boss of asking for help for it, I thought. I might want to think through what a help me post would be worded like. Realistically though I was in the middle of making supper and had other fussing about to do, so, it was a darn good thing that Russell took matters into his own hands and made that post. Here is the post.

This post was meant to raise awareness of this lost item but it seems to have connected with people’s sense of humor. Something about it brought out the best in people and we had so much fun reading the comments that came in when we got a chance.

It was bedtime before I opened my phone and found a text with a pretty exact location of where the shoe could be found. Then when we looked at Facebook Bonnie’s tip confirmed that. It was dark but I wondered if I should go searching, Russ told me to go to bed, the alarm was going off at 4:15am.

So what happened?

I woke up Friday morning at Last Mountain Lake. I had been on a writing retreat there, joined for a couple days by my cousin and one day by Jill. I was cutting the timing of my life very tight. I had only spent one full day in my house in the last three weeks between some travels and events near home I had to be at. I had company coming and with the cow chase the next day I had many mouths to feed. I had a lot on my mind. After leaving the lake at 8:30am I made a trip to the Wholesale Club in Regina and then Costco. I really value shopping local but when purchasing large volumes of food I find it so helpful to have access to these stores. Anyways, my Bronco is the small version and with $1400 worth of groceries on board it was loaded to the hilt. I tried to place things strategically for keeping food cold and also so that a collision would not cause a jar of pickles to jet forward and take my head off. I think about these things. This meant that my favorite shoes were tucked in a good spot, but, were in the way when shortly after 3pm I pulled into the driveway and began to unload. I took the shoes and placed them on top of the car and I went in the house with my first load. At that exact time my company arrived. “Can we help you Auntie K?” Sure! Logan, Brodie, Gary and Claire made the many trips that brought everything in and I kept busting my butt putting things away, never thinking about those shoes again. By 4:30 everything was stowed but I still needed a few things at the Carnduff Co-op and a stop at the drugstore so I headed into town. At one point I thought, “did the kids leave something in the back, that is a weird noise.” It never dawned on me that a pair of shoes was bouncing around on the roof and one was bouncing off. Nothing whatsoever dawned on me until I thought about Brodie’s observation and her question for me.

Russ called these my favorite shoes and that is not an exaggeration. They are comfortable and have their own vibe. In addition they have a little history. In 2020 when travel was limited Russ and I drove to Gimli for a few days to recharge. I usually dress a little boring but one particular day I felt inspired to go with a vibe that felt a little like Pippi Longstocking. I rolled up my pants, wore fun socks and these shoes. My purse kind’ve matched my socks. That day Russ named my shoes. They were from that day forward, my “so cute shoes.” That is how we refer to them. What is crazy is that my feet are huge, the style of shoe is masculine and in no way are these shoes in the “cute” category. But they are to us. Losing one of my “so cute shoes” off the roof of the car, somewhere over a 12 km stretch of road just felt like a write off. I would never see it again. But with the help of the community, a few with very observant eyes, the rest to be our cheerleaders, the lost shoe found its way back home. Thanks to all, but especially to those Paton men!