Welcome to the Family

This weekend, we welcomed a new addition to the family: Sperry Top-Sider Shearwater Boots. Finally, a pair of snow boots that wouldn’t look like my brother’s hand-me-downs.

Not that I minded wearing my brother’s cast offs. For years, I wore every pair of clunky rubber lace-ups that he outgrew. In fact, I couldn’t wait until they were mine. Bright, red fireman boots and white Power Ranger specials…If my big brother wore them, they were great, and that was that. When we got a little older and my little brother took off in size, I even had his old boots to choose from. Sure, there was a part of me that envied the girls who were the oldest in their family or who had older sisters. They always had the pretty pink or polka-dotted boots. The truth is, though, that I really didn’t mind wearing my brothers’ old boots, and in some ways, this fact still mystifies me.  

Maybe it was because when I was young, the snow in and of itself was exhilarating, and building snow forts and snowmen with my brothers was pure delight. Snow wars with neighboring clans were limitless, and a well-aimed snowball was infinitely more important than what was on my feet.


But somewhere in those middle school years, the desire to curl up on the couch with the dog to watch a “Friends” marathon during a blizzard snuck up on me. The thrill of getting bundled to careen down the hills of the Montclair Iris Garden was waning, and suddenly there were far fewer occasions to wear the Frankenstein footwear that kept out the snow. Sure, there were the massive-snowstorm shovel fests when every mother and child was obliged to help dig out, but that was rare. And in extreme situations, those big clunkers would do. They kept my feet dry.

me, in the snow

But keeping my feet dry was becoming less important. It was then that Uggs became my muse. I collected Uggs the Kardashians collect reality shows, and I loved them. I had tall basic black, tall black with shearling cuffs, and short black Uggs. I had brown Uggs with shearling trim and standard brown, too. I had pink Uggs and teal Uggs, and green Uggs that to this day hang out under my bed and are so comfy that in their retirement have earned the place of slippers in my life. Many of these boots, however, grace the back of my closet now, faithfully remembering the days they spent in the foreground. Sure, they may be worn, but they sure were worn well.

It’s not that I am indifferent to my Uggs. They own a place in my heart that reminds me of first crushes and sleepovers. They own a part of my history. But time marches on, and so does style. My Uggs have a track record of warmth, and I know that I can count on them to join me in welcoming our new Sperry  boots to the family…and to the closet.