Shoes - The monochromatic collection

As a kid, I remember thinking "why should shoes be so uncomfortable?". Like most kids I grew up with, I had two pairs at any one time - one pair of "soft" shoes (tennis shoes) and one pair of "hard" shoes (dress shoes). My old Converse tennis shoes were great, but I could never seem to find a pair of "hard" shoes that were comfortable. I think I believed that if you just bought enough pairs of a great variety, you'd surely find a pair that made your feet smile. Add to this the fact that - on my own, mind you - I had an epiphany of sorts about 20 years ago, realizing that black shoes do not, in fact, go with brown pants, plus some years later, my daughter recoiling in horror to see me in black shoes with a brown belt, and finally the fact that I NEVER return anything I buy that doesn't work out, and you can easily understand why I have 30 pair of shoes.

Knowing that I have 30 pair of shoes, you should be quite impressed that only two pair of shoes are going to make the trans-Atlantic journey with me. I'll be taking the white Nike walking shoes (a coworker once recognized me across a crowded restaurant by these shoes) and the seldom seen, reserve pair of black Nike shoes, to which I have assigned the role of "driving/sitting shoes". Both pair are well suited for their assigned roles, so there should be no need to bring more than two pair to Ireland. Of course, I make no guarantees, expressed or implied, about the number of pairs of shoes I will bring home.