I wish I had known when I saw that first shoe on my trip to Colorado that it was going to involve singles. No not single men, no, not monetary singles, but single shoes. Had I known this I would have been prepared with my camera at the ready.

It’s not a surprise these days to see single shoes lying about. But I have to say, I have never seen as many single shoes strewn about as I did in the city of Colorado Springs when we there during our last visit. I am surmising that there are a lot of half-soled people in Colorado Springs and wonder if they know where they lost their other shoe!

I wonder if people think the other shoe will turn up or if it’s a lost cause, or a lost soul…er, make that a “lost sole.”

It all began with the first single shoe that I saw in the mall parking lot. A perfect white tennis shoe, perhaps a size 8. or 10, male. Fortunately, shoes, unlike puppies are easy to distinguish whether they are male or female. This shoe was clean and bright as though it had not been lost very long. I bet that person was pretty angry at themselves for having lost such a pristine shoe.

The next FEW (yes, few, as in more than one!) single shoes that I saw were along the hiking path of Seven Falls. One was a male tennis shoe; one a female sandal and another a hiking boot. Now, I can imagine shoes being lost falling off of cars if someone puts them on top of their vehicle and in their rush forgets about them and drives off which then causes the forgotten shoes to go sailing. I am thinking that perhaps this is what happened to the one shoe that I saw in the mall parking lot--but come on people!, here we are out in the middle of wilderness and there are single shoes! And on a hiking trail to boot (pun intended), to lose your hiking boot!!!! How can this be? Was the person who lost his hiking boot in the middle of changing his socks when he was suddenly overtaken by a lost bear and ran off, shoe be damned? Did the young lady who lost her sandal on the trail have a blister and left her sandal there out of sheer agony and punishment hoping to return and retrieve it only to have gone back using a different route and never was able to retrieve it. And heaven only knows how the male who lost his single tennis shoe on the main hiking trail was up to? Did one of his companions rip one shoe off of his foot, toss it over the side to be funny, so the poor single-shoed fellow, figured why keep the remaining one? He must have had an extra pair of shoes to use. I don’t know, I just don’t understand it!

What, happens when you lose a shoe? I mean sometimes I have misplaced my shoes at home, but never in the general public! Misplacing my shoes at home gives me a 100 per cent chance of recovering them! But, really, how does one lose a shoe outdoors? They come in pairs and they are physically attached to one’s feet! I mean you start out the day with 2 shoes on your feet, surely you expect to come home with two! How does this happen?

At one point we saw a homeless couple lounging on the sidewalk of one of the many local Micky D’s fast food restaurants. I began to have visions of the homeless collecting all the single and stray shoes. Since the homeless seem to get around I bet they would have a good collection. They could then create a site for all single shoes Single shoe owners would then have a place in which they know they could go and collect their lost “other.” Maybe the homeless people running the “single shoe site,” could create pairs which they themselves could wear. I did notice that both of the homeless people had their shoes on, intact and stuck firmly on their feet. I bet they keep better track of their shoes than most people!

But I digress…I saw a woman’s flip flop at the bottom of the ravine of Seven Falls too. Now! This I can understand!

What happens is that there is a very long open metal stairway that goes up to the top of the beautiful seven falls. If you’ve read my other blogs, you’d know about me and heights and water. Put the 3 together and you have sheer terror. No mixing required! Yes, there I was again, water and heights. What’s up with that?!? Water and heights! Someone must be deranged to always put heights and water together! I mean there’s parasailing; ballooning over the ocean; bridges suspended over great bodies of water; tall open grated stairways built over waterfalls. Good grief!

Anyway, yes, I imagine the woman wearing the flip flop missed her footing and her flip flop flipped and flopped down to the bottom of the endless ravine. I wonder how she felt when that happened? I wonder if her first instinct was to grab for it. Oh no! I wonder if she yelled, “LOOK OUT BELOW!” for naught. Or if she was too embarrassed and just watched it spiral silently down and down till it reached bottom. I’ll never know. But I’ll bet she’ll never forget!

As I said, I wish I had kept photos of all the single soles I saw in Colorado Springs. I thought I had seen them all, but there was one surprise left. As we de-boarded our flight in Milwaukee and went to claim our luggage lo and behold! There! There on the luggage carousel, there was one single male tennis shoe going around and around and around. One shoe lost and alone on the luggage carousel, bumping alongside the luggage that would soon be claimed (I know what you are thinking, but no, now is not the time to discuss lost luggage!) Now, wouldn’t you think that the person who had originally picked up their luggage would have seen that shoe and said “WAIT! THAT’S MY SHOE!,” retrieved it and taken it home?

What was this shoe anyway? Was it the “Welcome Home Shoe,” (unlike the old Welcome Wagons, we now present the “Welcome Home Shoe!”) Was it saying hello and welcome back? Had it belonged to a late night airline employee—I won’t entertain those thoughts!? Perhaps it was a sign to keep an eye on my wandering shoes and to remember that there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home. As for all the single shoes that I saw in Colorado Springs, I think simply, “There sure are a lot of single soles in that fair city.”