SITTING IN MY family room, writing this article, I can feel my cotton enveloped feet resting on the semi-soft insole of my favorite pair of footwear: my size 11 Birkenstock sandals. Our partnership was destined.

In the years prior to owning my Birkenstocks, I had chronic foot pains from excessively tight leg muscles. However, in August of 2009, I bought my current pair of Birkenstock sandals and the pains have since subsided. Initially I purchased the sandals to help my feet, but after owning them for more than a year, they have begun to have great sentimental value to me.

Of any possession I have, there are few I have actively used for as long as these sandals (with perhaps the exception of my bed). Additionally, I only have two other pairs of footwear: running shoes (in my P.E. locker) and dress shoes (somewhere in a closet). Needless to say, I don't wear them any more than necessary. I can think back to almost any recent memory (sans winter memories) and know that my Birkenstocks were there.

Here I present a brief tribute to my Birkenstocks:

To all the times I walked in sand and petulantly kicked my sandals off, one after the other, to remove the little grains and pebbles from clinging to my feet.

To all the times I awkwardly ran after something in sandals and carefully avoided losing my balance.

To all the times I've had to explain the reason why I opt to wear socks with my sandals.

To all the times in class I've removed my Birkenstocks and furtively surveyed the outsole for signs of deterioration and subsequent dilapidation

...And to all the times soon thereafter that I've looked in desperation at the insole, to see that in light of my sandals' inevitable doom, they continue molding to my foot, and we grow closer.

I feel an emotional reprieve.

My feet grow every day. Time is running out. Although I have a limited amount of time left with these partners before I outgrow them, I plan on eventually giving them to a certain Uni High teacher as per his facetious-turned-serious suggestion.

In the meantime, I will wear my Birkenstocks as much as I can, until I outgrow them or until they are worn into oblivion. That means this winter season too. After all, feet don't stop growing during the winter months.

Keep in mind, although I wrote about my sandals, footwear, object, everybody else has their own "thing" that has a lot of sentimental value to them. Although I dislike the idea of being absorbed by materialism and measuring moments in life by my sandals, they have been with me almost constantly for the last fifteen months. That much, I cannot ignore.

So consider your object and what you have experienced with it. Think back, retrieve memories, rekindle lost thoughts and fantasies. Trust me, you'll be impressed.