in memory of a pair of lion king shoes~

i believe every shoe has a story.....

and

i believe every story has a shoe.......

When i was small, i was an avid fan of the lion king MOVIE. when we were in the states, dad took us to the cinema every weekend to watch the cartoon over and over again. it costs us a dollar each, and every time we went, we would get free posters. i loved the movie, mom would cry all the time during the sad parts, kakak would look with her mouth open and abang would whine about us not watching star wars. but dad took us anyway...i dont know if it was because it only costs us a dollar, or was it because i loved the movie...i believe it was the latter though~

since we were living in the states, a young malaysian family, just starting to blossom in the world, we had to cut on costs here and there. i think if i went back to who i was during my sweet childhood days, i would probably gawk at the amount of shoes i have now. it was different then, but life was and still is a golden moment during our childhood arent they. i remember my very first pair of american shoes(which was probably made in china)( because there was this one time, my father bought a walkman for kakaks birthday, and when we flipped the sides, it wrote MADE IN MALAYSIA...haha)

i treasured the shoes so much, it was a pair of sneakers, white with flashing lights if you stepped on it. i felt it was the most exquisite thing my eyes ever saw..but most important of all, it had a picture of Nala, a character in lion king. I felt special everytime i wore it. i used to tell my american friends,` see, i have a pair of magical shoes, everytime i wear it, i become as fast and strong as the lions in lion king!`. i dont know if they believed it, of if they just smirked behind my back, but i did not care. i was in my ultimatum, i was with my lion king shoes....

we lived in the states for nearly 2 years, winter, summer, autumn and spring, i never once went out of the house without my lion king shoes. every summer, there would be a marathon, and every marathon, i would wear those shoes. one summer, mom told me that i had to get rid of the shoe, just a few days before the marathon, she would buy me a new pair, she said. and i cried.....what would happen to me, my power would be taken away from me! no! i cant run anymore! mom tried to coax me, saying that the power to run comes from within, and not from the shoes...i did not believe her, and i pleaded to run for the last time in my lion king shoes~ and i did~...

I ran, and i ran as fast i can, a small scrawny malaysian girl amongst big sized giants. But with my lion king shoes, i could do anything. i believed in them! i would win! and In the end, i did win the marathon. an achievement that i still keep in my mind until today. if you believe in yourself, you really can do it, no matter how tough it looks!

a few months later, it was time to go back to malaysia, sadly, i had to leave those shoes behind, by that time, mom had bought me a pair of black shoes with (could you believe it, barbie doll on the sides!). But who was i to complain, i did not complain when i was small, unlike now, now im just a whiney complaining spoilt brat with abundance of love but not knowing how to appreciate it~ As i did not complain, i wore those shoes everywhere i went too, mom never bought us flip flops or sandals. The first time i wore sandals was when i was in form 2, and i practically tripped over my own feet! I wore my barbie doll shoes until one day, when i took them of in the car during a long drive somewhere, suddenly everyone rolled down the window, and started screaming at me to put my shoes back on! loe behold! all this time, i had stinky feet for never opening my athletic shoes!haha--lol!

i think those shoes kind of decided my the type of childhood that was to come.Would you believe if i said i was a very boyish girl. i think dad wanted a boy instead of a girl. He brought us up to be tough, manly girls! aha! atleast he tried to. and it did work out when i was small. i was not allowed to wear any jewelry or read any gurly magazines. instead, we would spend our afternoons riding our horses, flying kites, or having imaginary adventures in rivers wide. I remember an incident when dad told me to close my eyes, and open my hands, he had a present to give me. Grinning wide, i held out my hand and he curled my fingers around something soft and warm. what was it!!what was it!!!excited i was!! i quickly opened my eyes ,and guess what it was! it was............HORSE DUNG!owh dad! how could you, i thought at that time, and i cried the whole afternoon to my mom who scolded dad for playing such a trick on me. but dad laughed his hat off, and those were the days....we lived like cow boys, free of any troubles, only remembering the memories that some children are not so lucky to have.

I just watched laskar pelangi last night, an indonesian movie based on a famous novel. Seeing those kids, i felt how difficult life was for them, for an education, for fending themselves, or even for a pair of shoes. THe kids ran around bare footed or with rubber sandals bought at some china mans shop. It made me rethink of the values that mom and dad had instilled in us since we were small, but along the way i had somehow lost them. Dad is a very simple and humble man, bringing us up just the way he is, caring for others. WE did for some time, way back when we were still with our families. But the malicious world told us not to become humble, and here i am, a product of mankind, lost is my humbleness, and i regret loosing that.


There has been many pair of sneakers along the way, but i would always remember my lion king shoes. as a child, i believed it had magical powers, giving me wings to fly, strength to jump, and speed to run like a lion! They taught me how to win, how to loose, how to accept everything, how to be humble, how to love the world around you, and most importantly how to believe in myself...it dared me to DREAM!

I dedicate this entry to my lion king shoes..
representing who i was..
presenting who i still thrive to be..
i will..
be...
a pair of lion king shoes....



Growing up, those pair of sneakers were the greatest gift my parents ever gave me,they gave me the gift of a childhood......





** Alhamdulillah, my childhood was full of love and happiness. mom and dad, you have succeded in giving only happiness to mine..i cant ever repay the happiness of my childhood, but i would try to bring happiness to your lives ahead. hopefully~