After attending a few dozen graduation ceremonies, you learn that there is only one part of the outfit that really matters: the shoes. For graduates walking across that stage, the shoes are the only part of the outfit that is really visible beyond the black robe. Plus the shoes could make or break walking up and down the stairs to the stage. And unless you have the grace of Jennifer Lawrence at the Oscars, you do not want to take that chance.

So as I planned for my own graduation this past summer, I spent literally months thinking about the shoes. Wandering Amazon. Walking the shelves at stores in the mall. And even just looking around at the footwear on the bus (I do not recommend this last option when seeking fancy options…or just ever).

Graduation was a finish line I had been working toward for five years, if not the 30-something before that. I believe that getting to starting lines is harder than finish lines, but finish lines are still hecka-hard sometimes. And needed to be celebrated 1000%.

The perfect shoes were finally found about a month before the ceremony, during a shopping trip with my mother. Being with her made them even more perfect shoes because she paid for them as a birthday gift for me. Matched with the little black dress I bought at a friend’s store, I was ready for those finish line steps.

#52sparks is my year-long writing series based on an art prompt challenge. The title is inspired by a quote from Star Wars: The Last Jedi: “We are the spark, that will light the fire that’ll burn the First Order down” (Poe Dameron). The spark that lights a fire to toast a marshmallow or to ravage a forest begins in the space of an inch. So just imagine what hundreds of inches and words can do.