I got them in seventh grade when the rumours first began that Converse might sell out to Nike. (Which they did in 2003.) I remember they cost seven dollars when the clearance shoes at the Famous Footwear went on sale. They were my only pair of shoes.
That's not really true: they were the only pair of shoes I wore without any coaxing. If occasion required, I had other shoes. But I wore the Jack's summer and winter on into my sophomore year of high school when I got a pair of chunky blue Keds to rotate with them.
That pair of Keds almost made it to my senior year, when I had to buy a pair of Sketchers. The Sketchers began to leak last year so, I got a few pairs of All Stars for very cheap. I figure as long as I have to buy from The Man, I may as well buy from The Man at a discount. Sixty five dollars a pop almost makes sense for light up shoes with pump technology, ergonomic form, web cushioned soles, and air breaks, but for a little bit o' canvas and leather?
My Jack's, however, are still with me. I once swore I would wear them until the soles wore through or the uppers came loose. Neither of these things have happened. The right shoe leaks a little, but I cannot yet see my feet through the shoe at any point. The laces have been replaced three times, and the soles so worn through that when I wear them and walk over anything more rough than carpeted terrain, I feel every single thing on the ground as though I weren't even wearing shoes. I can take them off and bend them in half because the rubber's so destroyed.
These shoes have been with me through everything. I used to have paint spatters on them from every single high school show I helped build, but most of it has worn off. They've been to five different countries with me and who knows how many states. I have acted, danced, ran, played, waded, and wandered through mud in these shoes. In 2007, they will have been with me a decade. I wonder whether any of the other shoes I have now will still be with me then, or even when the Jack's finally give up the ghost and I agree to part with them.