For months now, maybe it’s closer to a year, I have been paying close attention to the kind of shoes people wear.

Just to be clear from the start, I do have a lot of idiosyncrasies, but I do not have a shoe fetish. I do not covet others’ shoes. I do not own thousands of pairs of shoes. Not even hundreds.

But now that I’m counting, I’m embarrassed to say I might have 10, which is too many. That includes winter boots for snow shoveling – alas, they’re still in season – and work boots with holes in them for painting and yard work, and slip-on shoes for public showers and rocky beaches, and slippers for warmth in the winter – alas, they’re still in season, too – and a pair of casual shoes that make my feet and back hurt but are perfectly good otherwise.