i broke my havaianas

yes, you read that right: i broke my havaianas. my 2 1/2 year old white havaianas.

i've never been a havaianas fan. in fact, i only have one pair and the only reason why i actually have a pair is that my ex-boyfriend for some reason bought them for me as one of my christmas gifts for 2004. i've never really loved them as they ought to be loved, but i liked them. for one, they make packing easy as they can be worn everywhere - from the mall to church to the beach to the bathroom to bed - without anyone criticizing your choice of footwear. and, since mine are white, they basically go with everything. so, together with my trusty tommy hilfiger duffel bag, my white havaianas were a travel staple.

today, i wore them out. i had several things on my to go to list: salon for a body scrub and massage, my parish for a visit to the blessed sacrament, and lastly, to the mall to buy presents. they're going to be perfect, i thought: ok to get wet at the salon and in case it gets wet, easy to slip off when i go inside the blessed sacrament, and perfect for all that walking i'll be doing while i hunt for the perfect gifts. in my mind, i had made the perfect footwear choice for the day.

except that after the shower i took at the salon, with me unable to wash off the oil from the body scrub, my foot didn't exactly stay inside the flip flop and it slipped a bit. the strap stayed firmly on though. however, after my massage, with my feet slippery with oil i was unable to wipe off, my foot slipped again and this time, the strap gave. at first i thought it was just a case of the strap being removed from the bottom part of the flip flop. upon closer inspection, i realized that the straps of my havaianas have cleanly snapped in two.

my havaianas are now dead.

with no other footwear in the car save for my fake yellow havanas and my teal driving shoes, both of which would not only clash with my orange shirt but also aren't good enough to be worn outside my car or in cases of extreme emergency, i had to go home and find something else to wear. being the shoe addict i am, it wasn't hard to find a replacement. but then i realized, i had lost my perfect pair of flip flops. what am i going to wear now to the beach? what am i going to pack next time i head out of town? what do i wear now when i'm too lazy to think of shoes and the most, or the best, i can do fashion-wise is to slip on my havaianas?

i don't know.

i never thought i'd feel this way but i realized, damn, i have lost one of the greatest things in my shoe cabinet. it was like losing a boyfriend you don't exactly love but are comfortable with. it was like growing out of your emergency jeans - that pair that isn't your favorite but is good enough to wear when your favorite happens to be in the wash.

i am seriously thinking of buying my first pair of havaianas. it shouldn't be too hard, right?