It's the end of an era....

Today I got a package from Ann & Richard.  It was a new pair of boots for my birthday.  Boots, as you can imagine, are a pretty important thing to have.  And for me it is really hard to find a boot to fit my foot that doesn't give me blisters.  I'm not talking about little blisters.  When I first joined the Army, the many pairs of boots that I went through all would take all the skin off the back of my heels, and I would end up a bloody mess.  The problem is that I apparently have narrow heels, and the rest of my foot is normal width.  So, that makes it pretty hard to find a boot that my heel doesn't move around in.

After buying 4 different pairs of boots while I was going through training, the 5th pair I bought ended up being just right.  I have worn that pair of boots everyday for the last 4 years.  They were getting a little ragged, to say the least.  Afghanistan hasn't been very kind to them either, and I was starting to get a hole in the side of them.  I brought an extra pair of boots with me when I deployed, but I really didn't want to switch to those as they really aren't that comfortable.  I bought them right before the deployment, and got a different brand than what I knew worked for me and have never broken them in.  So, these boots arrived just at the right time!

The good thing about them is that they are probably the most comfortable boots ever.  They may even be more comfortable than my 4 year old boots, and that is saying something as most the time I don't even feel like I have a boot on when I am wearing them.  So, while I am very sad to say goodbye to my old boots (I will not be throwing them away, as they will be really good mud boots when the rainy season hits again), I am pretty excited about the new boots, and the fact that they are so darn comfortable.  Thanks again, Ann & Richard!

My new boots!  I put them on right away.

The old boot...It was a very good boot.