My boots. A dark chocolate brown all the way up my foot until it meets my jeans. Light brown cracks and fade marks show anywhere that the boots have been stressed. They aren't clean. Dirt and mud on my boots is a common sight and I don't worry about cleaning away every speck of foreign material. They have plenty of cuts and scrapes and stains on them but each one of those stains has a story. Wearing my boots is like wearing a book of memories. They aren’t perfect and the imperfections and flaws are what make my boots mine. They are my sense of confidence and individuality. No one is perfect from head to toe and one look at the shoes on my feet would sum that it up and confirm my statement.

I wake up every morning and get ready for my day. I have an option between shorts and jeans. I almost always pick jeans because you can't wear boots with shorts. It just doesn't work. I walk into the mud room and continue walking right past my sneakers. They aren't an option. Whether Im going to school or going to work I almost always put on my boots. I think they look good. Fade lines and cracks don't bother me, I personally think it gives them character and shows that I like wearing my boots and using them, they aren't just for show. I like to take care of the things that I have, and my shoes on my feet are no different. I have just learned to accept that boots aren't meant to be shiny and new. If a person uses them as much as I do they get dirty and faded and broken in. They're built tough, holding up under pressure and stress is what they were built to do.

With a muffled “slump” my feet slide into my size ten boots. I already feel better about the day. I take my worn and faded, light blue jeans, and pull them over the tops of my boots. They both meet where my foot stops and my ankle begins. It's like the ocean meeting the sand. Not in a perfectly straight line but one that is still appealing to the eye. I stand up straight, every bit of my 5’10” 138 lbs frame standing in two round shaped pieces of leather. I'm not sure what the day has instore for me but I know I'll be ready for anything that gets thrown at me. I have a sense of confidence about me as I walk around from place to place. I don't care what people think. I think my boots look good and represent who I am and, as far as I am concerned my opinion of myself is the only one that matters. I go about my day and accomplish the daily demands of school and work and only once I am ready to turn in for the evening to my worn in boots come off and I can finally kick back and relax.

As I tread through the dense autumn woods I hear the crack and pop of all the little sticks and twigs I step on as I walk towards my hunting blind. I try to avoid making very much noise but it is seemingly impossible with big heavy boots on and a forest floor littered with natural materials. As I approach my blind my steps slow. I am sure to pay more attention to the exact spot my boot will hit with each step. Now is not the time to mess up. As I walk up the steps of my blind 3 soft clunks are heard as I place my boots as lightly as I can on each step. Walking on the soft balls of my feet I take each step slowly and carefully as to not scare away any animals. Once inside I kick off the dense pieces of leather sewn together into a masterpiece capable of handling whatever I throw at it. I set them off to the side as to not click them on the wood floor of my blind and scare away the animal that I am after.

The boots that I wear give me a real sense of confidence. I used to be really shy and super worried about what people would think of me. I'm not like that anymore, I dont care what people think about the way I dress and the shoes I wear. I'm hard working and I like doing the kinds of jobs most people don't like. I love getting dirty and the chance of injury doesn't make me shy away from anything. That's why I wear a solid pair of shoes on my feet. The way that the leather is sewn together with a solid steel toes in the front gives my the reassurance that I'll be ok doing whatever I need to do for a certain job. The cuts and scrapes and wrinkled fold mark on my boots also reassure me of that. I know that they have been able to handle everything that I have thrown at them, and thats alot, and then some. I am confident when I wear them. I don't worry about getting hurt or the way people look at me. Im confident with myself and who I am and as far as I'm concerned that's all that matters.