Day 1: Until Today

I've always wanted a pair of cowboy boots. I'm not entirely sure why. I've never been a cowgirl. But something about them has always appealed to me.

Maybe it was the wide open spaces, freedom or the possibility of going somewhere without knowing quite where you'll end up. And yet, for all these years, I've never owned a pair.

Until today.

When I opened the box, I found a message printed on the inside. Forever West. It spoke about being true to ourselves, sharing genuine kindness, blazing new trails and looking forward to whatever might be around the bend.

Quite a lot to find inside a shoebox. I smiled. Then I read it again.

Of course, I know what Tecovas is doing. They're selling more than boots. They're selling a feeling. Weirdly, it was a feeling I'd had long before I walked into their shop.

Someone who has never met me had managed to put into words why I'd wanted a pair of cowboy boots in the first place. I could dismiss it as clever marketing. And it is. That doesn't make the feeling any less real.

We carry ideas of who we are and the lives we'd like to live for years, often without giving them much thought. Today, one of mine came home in a shoebox.

I bought the boots.

The reminder came free.