I Hoard Old Slippers

This is my uniform at home:

A t-shirt, yoga pants and slippers. I take this off only minutes before walking out of the house and put it back on immediately upon returning. If we have company, I struggle to keep real clothes on until they leave. If they stay past ten, all bets are off.

This is my closet:

There are clothes stuffed into all those white bins and more hanging up around the corner:

I have precisely ONE pair of (non-yoga) pants I am currently wearing and probably about ten shirts. All the rest of that stuff is a security blanket. I seem unable to throw clothes out, even when years have passed since I last wore them. But I’m not talking about clothes tonight.

I keep my shoes on racks. Here’s one:

Here are two more:

And the overflow go in this random cabinet:

I am currently wearing exactly three pairs of (non-slipper) shoes: running shoes, casual sneakers and a pair of black ones. The rest of the shoes in my closet don’t fit anymore – and never will – because my feet grew a size during pregnancy, yet I still don’t part with them.

But I’m not here to talk about shoes either. Let’s talk about slippers. Here’s my collection:

Not pictured are my favorite pair of boot-style slippers that I (sniff sniff) had to throw out recently when they started leaving a trail of plastic pieces from the decomposing sole everywhere I went. Over half of my current collection (the boot-style ones) came from a fine establishment called Wal-Mart. They make a darn comfortable slipper and I’m due for a new pair.

I’ll single out just a few in particular. First, these gray slippers with metallic hearts on them. I liked them so much, I bought two pairs on the same day. I just loved the cool gray color because most of my clothes are in the cool color family so they went with everything. I also loved the little bit of sparkle.

These are my most expensive slippers:

They are Old Friend brand and are super warm and sturdy. I want a new pair SO BAD but I can’t justify the cost when the cheap Wal-Mart ones do the trick.

Lastly, these are my ugliest and most sentimental slippers:

When I was preparing for Dylan’s birth I figured I’d need slippers for the hospital. I wanted a pair that meet specific criteria: 1) I had to be able to slip them on an off easily, 2) They had to stay on (these were great because they had a strap on the back), and 3) They had to be nearly disposable because I didn’t intend to wear them after coming home from the hospital (something about that grossed me out). Well, of course I ended up wearing them every day for the first year of Dylan’s life. When I see them, I think of the emotional and physical intensity of that first year and they stir up a lot of emotions.

We are putting our house on the market soon and if (when!) we sell it, I’ll need to pack up my closet again. I hope and pray I can edit it down to the stuff I actually wear…but I doubt it. Sometimes I almost wish that a fire would break out in ONLY my closet and destroy everything (nonliving!) in there so that I can start fresh. Short of a catastrophe, I don’t think I have the heart to part with these little pieces of my past.

(p.s. See that little orange stain on the last pair of slippers next to the pink ones? I got that tonight while making Dylan dinner. I went to wipe it and actually stopped because I thought it would make a nice memory. HOW GROSS IS THAT!? I have my wits about me right now so I’m going to go clean it up.)