Adidas Stan Smith

 

I was walking around one of the

malls in Saigon last Sunday when

I saw this beautiful Stan Smith shoe

from Adidas. It immediately brought

back memories of my high school years.

I was studying at the Hagonoy Institute at the time. In those days, Adidas' Stan Smith was very famous.

Almost all of my classmates were wearing a pair of Adidas shoes. I just wanted to get one of them. 

While Tatay and Nanay couldn't afford to buy me one, I wasn't really disappointed. For me, that kind of material stuff is nothing. 

Nanay knew that I really wanted to get a pair of Adidas shoes, or maybe a shoe that would be closer to Adidas, so one Sunday evening,  she took me to a nearby shoe vendor. 

There were some good-looking shoes, and she let me pick the one I wanted. Though not Adidas, Nanay tried very hard on her limited budget to get me a pair of shoes.

I was really happy for her. I could see the accomplishment of making her child proud and happy in her expression. But I felt differently in the back of my mind because I knew my classmates, they will be crazy about it. 

I love Nanay so much that I haven't had the confidence to tell her that I couldn't wear those shoes at school.

Monday came, and I was wearing 

that shoes to school. As expected, I was the center of attention, not only for my classmates but also for other parts of the school. I was "trending" (in our modern lingo), or my shoes were. 

They stepped on my new shoes, some girls screamed, and I was very ashamed of myself. 

The most awful thing that happened was when I took my shoes off to practice "Singkil dance" with a classmate for our big school performance. 

Some boys were playing with my shoes, throwing them all over the place. They even threw them on the schoolhouse roofs. I couldn't find my shoes after the rehearsal was over. It's a bad feeling when almost everyone laughs.

I just pretended it was all right. I might be a comedian, no problem, but deep inside, it hurts.

That day, I went home without displaying any signs of discomfort. I didn't want Nanay to feel at all concerned about me. I'm not sure if she's ever heard this story because she taught at the same school, too.

Have I worn the shoes again? 

Yes!

I wore them every day with pride!  

That was Nanay's gift to me.