Tale of the Wandering Sandals

Amy Buck
Amy Buck
Jul 30, 2017 · 3 min read

My feet are bare and enjoying the wind from the car window as we travel across central Wisconsin. They love the freedom of not being bound by socks and shoes. The warmth of the sun and freshness of the wind are pleasing. As we get closer to our destination, the thought of enclosing my feet in socks and shoes is not appealing. My mind wanders to the hot tar that the soles of my feet would need to endure if I went barefoot. Suddenly, I remember the wandering sandals waiting for me in Juergen’s vehicle.

The sandals, whose life with me began at a Thrift store. The sandals, which have always been too long for me because my husband found a size 7 in the women’s section but they were actually men’s sandals. The sandals, who have a horizontal crack across each sole. The sandals, who have seen their better days but keep coming back.


Several years ago, I convinced the whole family along with my son’s girlfriend, to go on a day long canoe ride down the Rum River. We had three canoes for eight of us. When we started, we had no idea of the log jams that we would have to drag the canoes around. At one point, the current was so strong and the tree branch so low that we had to duck under the branch. With the sharp steering and quick movement of our bodies, the canoe capsized. We floated briefly holding onto the canoe toward a log jam. As we were helping our young daughter onto the log jam, we noticed the canoe sinking. It literally was being sucked by the current under the log jam. The canoe disappeared, taking with it some of our belongings. We were grabbing onto our loose items before they floated down the river as the canoe containing our two teenage sons pulled up. We tossed the items into their canoe, one of which was my sandal. The other sandal was nowhere to be seen. After helping our daughter into her brothers’ canoe, we waited, trying to figure out what to do next. The canoe, one of my sandals and an Urban CROSS baseball cap were missing. Finally the third canoe arrived, carrying my son, his girlfriend and our daughter. After pulling up, my son’s girlfriend had a perplexed look on her face when we told her that her parents’ canoe was missing. We were now eight people, two still in the water, with two canoes. There was a current downstream the log jam with no easy way for the two of us to get into the other canoes.

All of the sudden, my missing sandal came to the water surface on the other side of the log jam, followed quickly by the canoe. What a relief! We finished the rest of the ride following a bald eagle who seemed to be leading the way for us. Both sandals were on my feet again.


Back to our car ride today. After pulling up in the parking lot, I hop out and walk quickly across the warm pavement. After greeting me with a warm hug, Juergen looks down at my bare feet and says, “I have your chappals (an Indian English word for sandals) in the car, let me get them for you.” The wandering sandals are back on my feet again after two weeks. They keep coming back.

Thanks to Ian R Buck

Amy Buck

Written by

Amy Buck

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