The Valuable Shoe Shine Box

This post really has nothing to do with our little homestead farm, but I'll share it anyway.  I don't know about you, but every so often when I look down at my "church" shoes, I am not greeting with a nice  shining reflection.  Instead I see a dull, sad reminder that I'd better get out the old shoe shine box and get busy.  Shoes that are polished are a refection of a gentleman's attention to detail and civility, I have been told.

So I got out the shoe shine box and did a quick number on them, using an old tee shirt as my shoe shine rag.  Keep in mind, I am nowhere near a professional shoe shiner.  My polishing work leaves a lot to be desired, but it did at least resurrect the leather from dull, lifeless, and lackluster, to at least some degree of brilliance.  Hopefully I moved the needle closer to "civilized."

My shoe shine box is very old as shoe shine boxes go.  I would guess it is about 30 years old.  It is actually an old shoe box.  It is filled with an assortment of Kiwi shoe polish in varying colors, brushes, toothbrushes, and a rat's nest of various shoe strings I'll never use.  Not a fancy box, to be sure, but one that has performed its duty admirably in keeping a lot of junk together in somewhat of a semi-organized fashion.  When I need to shine my shoes or Tricia's cowboy boots, I know where everything is.

Now, one might think that it would be a fruitful endeavor to peruse various websites to procure a real shoeshine box.  This one is just tacky.  Perhaps, if I was ambitious, I could make a shoeshine box.  Or, I may have to repair it by getting some duct tape to 'firm up' edges of the box and the box top.  Age brings on wear and raggedy appearance in both boxes and people alike.  Should I just throw it away?  Nah, my old shoe box that serves as a shoe shine box will continue to perform its duty until I no longer need to shine shoes.  The reason it is important to me is not due to what's in it.  The treasure is on the outside of it.  Some 25 years ago, my daughter, Laura Lee, my aspiring artist, drew a self-portrait on my shoe shine box.  It is a happy drawing of Laura Lee and her brother.

The most expensive shoe shine box I could ever purchase couldn't come close to the value that I ascribe to the one I currently have!