I had everything planned out for a fun Wednesday night. My friend James would meet me at work, and we would go down to Washington to see a D.C. United soccer game.
We planned to leave at 6 p.m., which allowed me to get some extra work done without feeling like I was abandoning my family because they already knew I was abandoning them for the evening.
So I worked up until about 15 minutes before James was arriving. I went into the men’s room in my building so I could change out of my work clothes and put on shorts and my soccer jersey for the game. That’s when I came to a horrible realization.
I forgot my shoes.
I had my shorts, my souvenir jersey and a t-shirt. I even had a pair of athletic socks. But I had no shoes. Well, I had the black dress shoes that I wore to work, but I didn’t think they would fit in even though D.C. United’s primary color is black.
I really had no time to do anything except swear at myself for being so absent-minded. I didn’t have any casual shoes in my office, and I knew I didn’t have any in the car since I had cleaned it out right before we went to the beach.
That meant one thing – I had to rely on the mercy of a friend. I had no intention of going into Target in my dress shoes and a pair of khaki shorts. At first glance, the situation might not seem so dire. James, after all, is a pastor. How could I not trust a man of the cloth?
Well, he’s my friend. Which means he has a similar sense of humor. Which means he might love the opportunity to get me some footwear that I might not really want to wear in front of other friends.
I made this mistake once before, albeit on a much smaller scale. Some friends and I went to see a baseball game in Pittsburgh one summer in college. Somewhere on the way, we stopped at a convenience store to get some snacks.
Since I was sitting in the backseat and didn’t feel like moving, I asked a friend to get me some candy. He told me to get it myself, but I whined and complained and he eventually gave in and said he’d get me something.
He brought me back a pack of Nerds and a pack of Runts. I got the message clearly and have always worried about asking people who enjoy a good joke to lend me a hand since.
So we went to Target, and I pleaded to James’ better senses to not embarrass me too much. Of course, I didn’t have much money on me so he would have to shop in the discount rack.
The worst thing about all this wasn’t just the uncertainty. The worst thing was that this wasn’t the first time I had visited this Target store on the way to a soccer game to get appropriate footwear because of my poor planning. It was just the first time I had no control over the situation.
Lucky for me, James passed up the opportunity to buy me Crocs or something with flowers attached. The white flip-flops were not that manly, but they did the trick. I think I’ll have to put them in the trunk because I just might need them again some time.