All good things

About a week ago I replied to a tweet, and today, I’ve got a new pair of sneakers! Yes, those two things are absolutely related to each other.

By pure coincidence, I stumbled upon an Instagram story that lead me to a tweet. It was an offer to buy a pair of sneakers from a new, by womxn, for womxn boutique, Makeway. Here, I present you with receipts:

You might be thinking, “Duh! How could you NOT respond to something like that?!” But the truth is, I saw it and left it. I figured I wouldn’t get a pair anyway, and that it was weird (or something) for me to take up this total stranger on an offer that he was putting out there to other total strangers like me.

It took a couple of hours before I logged back in to Twitter to reply. I felt silly about feeling silly. Why had I talked myself out of replying? What was the worst that could happen? So I replied, and:

Okay, obviously this is no surprise, as I literally opened with the fact that I received a pair of shoes today, but it came as a wonderful surprise to me when I found out I could choose a pair of sneakers to be gifted to me. What?!

I chose the Reebok Questions, which were originally released in 1996–the first signature sneaker for Allen Iverson. I’m a sucker for nostalgia, so while these aren’t necessarily something I might have picked out for myself, I went for it because why not? Might as well go for something fun when choosing a gift!

Paying it forward to keep the good karma going, by leaving a little extra $$ at our local coffee shop on my next coffee run to pay for someone’s beverage. This was obviously quite the gesture, but I’m hoping my little something will make someone’s day the way this did mine.

Also a reminder to anyone who needs to hear it, to go for it! It shouldn’t feel risky to enter a contest, or reply to a tweet in the hopes of receiving new shoes (within reason, of course. This is still the internet. Don’t get scammed!) Don’t rob yourself of the potential for some small joy because you figure you won’t get it anyway. You never know—you just might!