Sneakerhead-ache

My daughter is all about Converse. She asked me for a pair as if she had discovered them in some underground cool kid secret club and is single-handedly putting them on the pre-teen map. Forget that she has been wearing Converse since they fit in the palm of my hand—much like the oh-so-cute mini version that adorns keychains at the Converse store register. “See,” I say as I point to the poster-sized photograph we have framed in our hallway of her at age six, mid-jump, wearing a sundress and Converse low-tops. “Oh, I didn’t realize I’ve worn them before.” Um hm.

For a long time the go-to sneakers consisted of Nike, Reebok and Adidas. Maybe Puma if you were trying to be different. But during a quick pre movie theater stop into the shoe department of Nordstrom Rack, it was clear that the sneaker world’s landscape had changed. A lot.

Enter the exaggeratedly padded soles of Hoka, On Running, Brooks and more. I picked a pair that we would both like (as we share the same size) easy on/off for quick dog walks, errands, school pickups for me, lavender colorblocks to appease her, with a thick wavy white sole that felt like walking on an air mattress. She quickly pooh-poohed them. “No thanks,” she tells me when I hobble over, amazed at how squishy my right foot feels in the On Running Cloud sneaker. “ I want Converse.”

Fast forward 48 hours and the Converse pair are still in the box on her desk, and she’s worn our Ons to school with apparent rave reviews. “Guess what? Mackie has the exact same ones!!!” Um hm.