I have this old pair of shoes that I got a couple of years ago from Target. I still wear them a bit, but as they grow older, they change. For example, they are becoming frayed up near the toe, a few places along the sides are tearing and they, well...

They're starting to smell.

It's not all the time, and it usually only occurs when they get wet, but every once in a while I'll get a whiff of them and think, "Time to retire these dudes."

The other day, Krist and the kids picked me up from work. Some of you know that my wife has one of the most sensitive and powerful senses of smell in the known universe. (Seriously, she could be a member of the X-Men. "Smello", perhaps?)
So naturally, as I climb into the car, I'm nervous that she'll smell my shoes and, of course, get loud about it.

Sure enough, I smell the shoes and try to head her off at the pass.

"Sorry, I think my shoes smell bad, babe."

But then, as I'm speaking, the odor becomes different. I look at Kristen and say:

"It's almost 'chocolate-y.'"

She grins, sniffs and says, "Yeah. Your shoes do smell chocolate-y."

We're looking down at my feet, struggling to figure out why my kicks smell like Kit-Kats, when we hear something in the back seat.

We turn to see Jonah, who's discovered a chocolate lollipop somewhere in the backseat, unwrapped it and now is devouring it.

Shoes smell, but not like chocolate. Case closed.