Describe a mom showing up for field day at the school in her new white Hoka running shoes. She thinks that she was just doing registration but learned that she was needed to help in the field after it had rained the night before.
YTM 4
- Thread starter RonR
- Start date
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Sure! Here's a description:
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Susan pulled into the school parking lot, excitement bubbling within her as she stepped out of her minivan. It was her son's field day, and she had volunteered to do registration, which seemed like a relatively simple and dry task. She felt a little extra spring in her step today—after all, she was sporting her brand new white Hoka running shoes, fresh from the box, pristine and spotless. Dressed in her favorite pair of athleisure leggings and a light, moisture-wicking jacket, she was ready for an hour or two of clipboard duty.
As she made her way toward the registration table, she noticed the ground looked... soggier than expected. Rain from the night before must have left the grassy field borderline swampy. When she approached the PTA coordinator, a pleasant but slightly frazzled woman named Karen, Susan sensed something was amiss.
"Susan! Oh thank goodness, you're here," Karen exclaimed, juggling her clipboard and pencil with a panicked smile. "We had a few volunteers cancel last minute. I... um, I hope you're okay with getting a little more involved. We could really use help out on the field today."
Susan blinked. “The field...?” Her eyes widened as she glanced beyond the registration table and toward the patchy green-and-brown terrain. Her heart sank just a little as she imagined her brand new Hokas—so crisp and gleaming—sinking into the now-muddied grounds. She had been proud of these shoes, even thought they gave off that energetic, sporty-wellness-mom vibe. Now, it seemed they would be baptized in wet, squishy grass and dirt.
"I know it's not what you signed up for," Karen continued, a bit apologetic. “But, we really need someone to run one of the relay stations.”
Susan took a quick, subtle breath, a calm smile returning to her face. “Oh, sure. I can handle that.” After all, she hadn’t spent years carpooling to soccer practices and cheer tryouts without learning to problem-solve unpredictability. There was no way Susan could let her kid, or Karen, down. She steeled herself, imagining the looks of admiration from the other parents as she rolled with the punches.
With a brave nod, she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, adjusted her running shoes, and made her way across the squelching grass toward the relay station. She could feel the damp earth beneath her soles, the once-crisp white of her Hokas slowly darkening with spots of brown.
She chuckled to herself. So much for keeping the shoes clean. But the thought vanished as she began helping the kids line up and prepare for their event. In the end, it wasn’t about the shoes or the mud—it was about showing up.
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Susan pulled into the school parking lot, excitement bubbling within her as she stepped out of her minivan. It was her son's field day, and she had volunteered to do registration, which seemed like a relatively simple and dry task. She felt a little extra spring in her step today—after all, she was sporting her brand new white Hoka running shoes, fresh from the box, pristine and spotless. Dressed in her favorite pair of athleisure leggings and a light, moisture-wicking jacket, she was ready for an hour or two of clipboard duty.
As she made her way toward the registration table, she noticed the ground looked... soggier than expected. Rain from the night before must have left the grassy field borderline swampy. When she approached the PTA coordinator, a pleasant but slightly frazzled woman named Karen, Susan sensed something was amiss.
"Susan! Oh thank goodness, you're here," Karen exclaimed, juggling her clipboard and pencil with a panicked smile. "We had a few volunteers cancel last minute. I... um, I hope you're okay with getting a little more involved. We could really use help out on the field today."
Susan blinked. “The field...?” Her eyes widened as she glanced beyond the registration table and toward the patchy green-and-brown terrain. Her heart sank just a little as she imagined her brand new Hokas—so crisp and gleaming—sinking into the now-muddied grounds. She had been proud of these shoes, even thought they gave off that energetic, sporty-wellness-mom vibe. Now, it seemed they would be baptized in wet, squishy grass and dirt.
"I know it's not what you signed up for," Karen continued, a bit apologetic. “But, we really need someone to run one of the relay stations.”
Susan took a quick, subtle breath, a calm smile returning to her face. “Oh, sure. I can handle that.” After all, she hadn’t spent years carpooling to soccer practices and cheer tryouts without learning to problem-solve unpredictability. There was no way Susan could let her kid, or Karen, down. She steeled herself, imagining the looks of admiration from the other parents as she rolled with the punches.
With a brave nod, she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, adjusted her running shoes, and made her way across the squelching grass toward the relay station. She could feel the damp earth beneath her soles, the once-crisp white of her Hokas slowly darkening with spots of brown.
She chuckled to herself. So much for keeping the shoes clean. But the thought vanished as she began helping the kids line up and prepare for their event. In the end, it wasn’t about the shoes or the mud—it was about showing up.
She managed to keep her Hokas clean for almost the entire day. A few kids wiped out in the mud by the finish line which she found a little funny.
Just as they were wrapping up, someone called her name and she was responding while walking backwards and stepped back into a nasty mud puddle soaking both shoes. Describe her frustration.
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For hours, Susan had somehow miraculously managed to keep her brand new white Hokas from getting completely wrecked. Despite the muddy field and the occasional spills from excited kids racing toward the finish line, her shoes had survived with only a few minor splashes of dirt. She’d even allowed herself to giggle quietly when a few of the children, clearly overenthusiastic, wiped out and ended up covered in mud and grass stains.
Watching the day's chaos unfold from her relatively dry vantage point, Susan had felt proud of her nimble footwork. Navigating gracefully between grassy patches, she had artfully dodged teachers hauling cones, sidestepped overly competitive 5th graders, and circled muddy zones like they were landmines. It was nearly the end of the day, and the thought of making it out unscathed boosted her spirits.
But just as things were wrapping up, and she thought she might actually emerge from the whole ordeal with her fresh shoes still intact, she heard someone call her name from across the field.
“Susan!”
Distracted, she instinctively turned her head toward the voice—her friend, Amanda—waving from the registration tent to ask something. In that moment of replying, Susan, not thinking, took a few steps backward—completely blind to where she was going.
SPLORCH.
A horrible, unmistakable squelching sound filled the air. Her stomach dropped as her foot sank deep into something cold and squishy. She froze, mouth slightly agape, taking a moment to process what had just happened, a brief flash of hope crawling through her—that maybe it wasn’t that bad.
She slowly looked down with wide, horrified eyes.
Both shoes. Completely submerged. A nasty, dark puddle of thick mud reached halfway up her ankles. Her once-sparkling Hokas—the ones she had tried so valiantly to protect—were now entirely drenched, caked in filthy brown muck, the bright white buried beneath layers of slop.
An exasperated groan escaped her throat—half laugh, half cry. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”
She stared at the mess in disbelief for a moment, shaking her head. The frustration boiled up, a mix of Why didn’t I pay more attention? and I knew this would happen, paired with the irrational hope she had clung to for hours that somehow, her shoes would survive this whole muddy circus. “They were so clean!” she muttered under her breath, biting her lip as she tried to maintain her composure.
Amanda, realizing what had happened, gave Susan a sympathetic wince from across the field. “Oh no... not the Hokas!” she called, stifling a chuckle but trying to look apologetic.
“I know, right?!” Susan threw her arms in the air, forcing out the kind of laugh that carried far more annoyance than humor. “Of course this would be how it ends!”
She tried to pull her feet out of the mud with an exaggerated squelch, glaring down at the now-sludgy remains of her once-pristine shoes as the wet muck clung to every surface. The shoes were beyond saving, at least without a decent power wash.
With one annoyed sigh, and a shake of her head, she muttered to herself, “Well... welcome to parenthood, I guess.”
She couldn’t help but laugh.
When Susan got home, she was greeted by her husband who immediately noticed her muddy shoes and asked if they were the ones that she just purchased. Have Susan describe her decision to wear them when she probably should have known better.
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When Susan finally trudged through the front door, the telltale sound of mud-caked shoes squeaking against the entryway tile gave her away before she even had a chance to set her keys down. Her husband, Mark, was in the kitchen preparing dinner, and his eyes immediately traveled downward as soon as she greeted him with an exhausted, "Hey."
"Oh, no," Mark said, wincing, his tone a delicate mix of amusement and sympathy. "Are those... the new ones? The ones you just bought like, what, last week?"
Susan sighed, kicking off one soggy shoe with a wet squelch and peeling the other off with a bit more reluctance, wincing as they revealed just how soaked—and utterly destroyed—they were. She dropped them on the mat by the door, now an unintended sacrifice to Field Day.
"Yeah," she admitted, rubbing a hand over her forehead in self-frustration. "They are. The new Hokas I was so excited about."
Mark gave her a knowing look and raised an eyebrow. "And you wore them to a muddy field day?"
Susan exhaled deeply, placing her hands on her hips, feeling the weight of her decision hanging around her shoulders. "Listen, I know... I know I should’ve worn old shoes, okay? You don’t have to remind me." She threw her hands up in a helpless gesture before giving him a sheepish smile. "But when I woke up this morning, I thought, 'I’m only doing registration. I’m going to be sitting the whole time, right? I'll stay by the table, nice and dry.' I even looked at my running shoes and thought, 'I won’t even need to walk in the grass.' I figured I'd be safe. Plus…" she paused, pacing around the kitchen in her socks, "I wanted to look like one of those moms who have their life together, you know? Looked sporty, like I’m totally on top of all things fitness while I smile and check kids off the list."
Mark chuckled, stirring a pot on the stove while glancing at her with an amused grin. "Uh-huh. So... what happened, exactly?"
Susan groaned. "Everything went downhill the second I got there. Turns out, three volunteers bailed at the last minute, and they were practically begging for help on the field. And guess who Karen corrals into running one of the relay stations?" She threw a dramatic arm in the air, pointing to herself. "Me. And I’m standing there, watching kids barrel through the mud, all while desperately trying to dance around puddles like I’m at some crazy athletic version of a minefield. I thought I could make it."
Mark raised his eyebrows again, laughing lightly as he gave her a look that said, Yeah… right.
"And here’s the worst part," Susan continued, her voice rising a little in exasperation. "I almost made it, Mark! Three relays! Three! And my shoes were still mostly clean! I was so freaking proud of myself. Then right at the end, Amanda called my name, and like an idiot, I walked backward—stepped right into a huge puddle while I wasn’t looking. Just—splat. Full-on muddy disaster." She threw her hands into the air, defeated and flustered.
There was a beat of silence before Mark spoke again, this time with playful drama. "So, what we’re saying here is… you wore perfectly clean, expensive new shoes, into what you [*knew*] was a muddy environment?"
Susan narrowed her eyes at him but couldn’t help the half-smirk tugging at her lips. “Yes, okay. I knew it had rained the night before. But I thought I was smarter than the mud! I thought I would be fine." She sighed again, shaking her head. “Clearly, I have overestimated both my luck and my ability to avoid disaster.”
Mark leaned against the counter, crossing his arms with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Looks like someone learned a lesson today."
She shot him a playful glare, half-laughing, half-pouting. "Yeah, yeah, I get it,” she said. “Next time, I’ll be wearing my old, beat-up sneakers, and I’ll leave my attempts to look like an overachieving Pinterest mom at home."
Mark smiled and came over to kiss her forehead. “Well, can't say I wasn't going to say it, but I think we both knew from the start how this one was going to end.”
She chuckled, allowing herself to finally laugh at the situation. "Right? It’s like I set myself up for it."
There was a pause before she looked back toward her wrecked shoes by the door. “I mean, they’re not exactly beyond hope... right? Maybe a good soak, some scrubbing…?”
Mark gave her a deliberately long, exaggerated look, full of playful skepticism.
She groaned again. “Okay, fine. They’re toast. Happy now?”
“Not really,” he said, his grin still wide, “but at least you’re in one piece—unlike the shoes.”
“I’m never living this down, am I?”
“Nope,” Mark said, still chuckling, “but, hey—at least you got a workout dodging the mud all day.”
Susan shook her head, both of them laughing.
Mark asked Susan, didn't you wreck a pair of Nikes a few months ago - pretty much right out the box if I remember, right?
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Susan was just starting to peel her muddy socks off when Mark’s amused grin widened, and he gave her a sarcastic side-eye. "Hold on," he said, turning off the stove and turning fully toward her. "Didn’t you wreck a pair of Nikes a few months ago? Pretty much right out of the box, if I remember correctly?"
Susan paused mid-sock removal, her face scrunching with a mix of embarrassment and reluctant amusement. She knew exactly what he was referring to, and she could feel the heat creeping up her cheeks.
She groaned dramatically, covering her face with both hands. "Ugh... you would bring that up," she mumbled through her fingers before dropping her hands and facing him with a sheepish smile. "Okay, yes! Yes, I did. But that was totally different."
Mark crossed his arms, leaning back against the counter with an all-too-satisfied look. "Different how?"
Susan huffed, crossing her own arms as if preparing a defense. "Okay, for starters," she began, gesturing animatedly, "I wasn’t expecting to run out into a thunderstorm that day when I wore them. How was I supposed to know that soccer practice would get canceled five minutes after we arrived and that I’d have to run after Ben through that muddy parking lot trying to get back to the car in the middle of a downpour?"
Mark was nodding with mock seriousness. "Ah, yes, the classic 'getting out of soccer practice and sprinting through a deluge' maneuver. Totally unpredictable."
Her voice rose defensively, but she couldn't suppress the grin creeping up on her, knowing he had backed her into a corner. "Exactly! The storm was out of nowhere! Seriously, it wasn’t in the forecast!"
Mark tilted his head, clearly unconvinced. "Okay, but that still leaves the Hokas today. I mean, you had to see the rain last night, right?"
She pointed at him, eyes widening. "Look! I’m just—look, I get it, I made a bad call. I totally did it again, didn’t I?"
Mark raised his eyebrows, clearly indulging in her moment of self-awareness.
Susan sighed deeply, tossing her mud-streaked socks into the laundry basket. “Actually, now that I think about it… I might just be cursed when it comes to new shoes.”
Mark burst into a laugh. "So basically, you shouldn’t be allowed to wear new shoes for anything besides walking on a dry, lightly padded, sealed track?"
Susan threw her arms out with a grin of defeat. "Apparently! I mean, every time I get something new and nice, I destroy them within days! I should just stick to my ten-year-old sneakers and be done with it."
Mark shook his head, still chuckling, as he stepped closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You're just too optimistic. You believe that somehow, you’ll be the one person to outrun mud, rain, or any surprise disasters the universe throws at you.”
"Well, that’s sweet," she said, leaning against him. "But next time, I'm checking the actual weather report first before I even touch a new pair of shoes."
"And maybe investing in a mud-cleaning kit," Mark teased.
“A deluxe one,” Susan agreed with a laugh, letting the moment of self-inflicted defeat roll off as they both glanced at the sad, muddied shoes by the door.
Mark looked at her and added, "Third time’s the charm, right? Just... maybe not this month."
She threw her head back in laughter. "Deal."