Last year, Domer’s roommate was a shoe-a-holic.

A male shoe-a-holic.

This guy must have had several dozen pairs of shoes, from casual to fashionable. Some he kept around simply because he didn’t mind if they got muddy; others had the kind of sole that made Band practice (and that special hike-step) a breeze; still more were for show, to prove he was a “hip” kind of fella.

And that’s just fine. To each, his own.

Up to now Domer hasn’t been what you’d call a “shoe kind of guy.”

Oh, he wears them (just not around the house), and he’s fussy about the brand name (NO New Balance, thank you very much!). But his needs are pretty basic — “every day” shoes, shoes for tennis, sandals, and dress shoes — nothing close to what his shoe-a-holic roommate needed.

When he was little, Domer liked character shoes — featuring Pokemon, or whatever was popular at late summer when we’d buy shoes for the coming school year.

As he got into middle and high school, he bought what his friends were buying — usually Nikes in traditional colors of royal blue, black, silver, and white. That didn’t change much when he went off to college, although the brand-of-choice became Asics.

Then I was able to pick out and buy his shoes when he needed them. I knew his taste (and my price range!), so we were good to go.

No more.

During Spring Semester, he texted me that his Asics were showing signs of wear and tear. ‘I need some shoes,’ he told me.

So I went shopping. Took photo after photo on my camera phone and sent them to him.

Nothing clicked.

‘Maybe you’d better let me pick them out,’ he suggested.

‘Just tell me what you want, and I’ll get it,’ I offered.

No dice.

So the other evening we went shopping, and these were what he had to have:

Adidas Climacool Seduction in “Electricity”

At least you can see him coming, right?!