Things Were Going Well, Too

One skill I have, and have had practically all my life, is shining shoes.  Well, I learned on boots, of course, but I can do good work on a pair of shoes.  I'm honestly really good at it.  Daddy taught me, naturally;  I loved learning from him, and it was a great honor for him to ask me to shine a pair of his boots.

It is on the very slim edge of Boot Weather here.  I decided to get a pair ready the other day, and found out I don't have any saddle soap.

I decided to check in Daddy's shoeshine kit to see if there happened to be any in there.  Just the sound of unclasping it made memories rush in.  No saddle soap, but a tiny bit of mink oil, which I'll put to use.

My father was a lot of things, but a Type-A-Personality-Cleaner-and-Straightener wasn't one of them.  (He did marry one.)  His shoeshine kit, though, was straight.  Things folded and in strict, neat, space-saving order.  I felt bad having to dig through everything, but muscle memory kicked in, and I put everything away nicely.

Thankfully, there's a tack store near me where I can go for saddle soap.  The only problem?  They sell cowboy boots, too. 🫣