I came from a mother and stepfather that loved me very much. When I was in the ninth grade, I wanted a pair of Converse Tennis shoes like the cool kids, and they cost $16, and my mom said no way am I paying $16 for a pair of tennis shoes. The K-Mart brand cost about $5 at the time.

Here I was 14 years old in the 9^th grade and I wanted those shoes. There was an Aunt Sarah’s House of Pancakes about a half mile from where we lived in Fredericksburg VA. I went over there and applied for a dish-washing job. They hired me to work on the weekends. After two weeks I got my first check, and it was $19 and guess where I ask mom to take me. That’s right, to the only store in town that sold Converse tennis shoes.

At the time I wore like a size 8.5 and I wanted black or white Converse. When we got to the store, the only pair that was close to my size was a red pair of 11’s. Guess what? That’s right, I bought the red 11’s and thought I would put them through a hot wash cycle, and they would shrink up a little. What I got was a red pair of 11’s that curled up at the toes because they were so big on me. I put those puppies on for school the next day and proudly walked into class and thought I had finally arrived. I wore those size 11 Converse for two years (they finally fit) and completely wore them out.

I have often said, if you wait and buy what you really want instead of what you can get by with now, you will get so much more enjoyment out of your purchase. Isn’t it that way in most areas of our life? Set your goal, execute your plan to achieve it and then go buy the new pair of Converse (metaphor) you always wanted. KT

PS – Fun fact. Converse sells 270,000 pairs of Chuck Taylors (the old fashion kind like I bought,) wait for it – every day! That’s what you call a marker maker.