My sandals are 12 years old. I think I'm ready to splurge on a new pair.

I tend to wear my shoes until they literally can't be considered  "shoes" anymore.  At best, they can be called "soles".  My current pair of Nike sandals are from 1999, which makes them 12 years old.  I can hardly believe my sandals are almost teenagers. 

On my 32nd birthday, I got some grey hair, a little more bald, and a new pair of sandals.  It was an exciting moment for me, but at the same time, a bit sad.

Unfortunately, the new sandals were too large, so I needed to return them.  After a few failed attempts to reach the mall, I was finally able to exchange them last weekend.  When I got home, the same damn sandals were in the bag - the cashier put the old pair instead of the newly exchanged pair back in the bag. 

I told my wife, and she suggested I go back to the mall again to re-re-exchange them.  I told her that it would be the worst birthday gift ever if I had to exchange them twice.  I'd rather just keep my existing sandals a bit longer to avoid having to deal with all that fuss.

And so, today, I still have my 12 year old Nike sandals, and a shiny new pair of sandals that don't fit and are sitting in a bag waiting to be re-re-exchanged.