He wrote a column some years ago on that mysterious one-shoe-on-the-side-of-the-road for USA TODAY's 6 million daily readers. Afterward, he received literally hundreds of email replies, readers who long wondered the same thing, many offering their own theories on the other shoe.
Welcome to Craig Wilson's world, truly a slice of life, where the veteran columnist writes about anything and everything.
Maybe it's that one shoe, or, when his dad played Santa Claus, or his mom's Thanksgiving gravy, or the death of his dog Murphy, or things with his partner of 25 years, Jack Cahill.
Wilson's Wednesday column, which runs at the bottom of the lead page of the Life section, has been a staple for about 15 years in this location for about 10 years.
Wilson and Cahill got married in August 2011, so naturally that event was the subject of a column, too.
"As you can see, we're not solving world problems [in the column], but I'm always happy when I feel like I've touched readers in a way that they can kind of relate to," said Wilson, who lives in Washington, D.C.
Wilson has been writing at USA TODAY for 25 years, almost since the birth of our nation's only national newspaper. He arrived in Washington D.C., from a newspaper in upstate New York, where he was the features editor, and where he also wrote a Sunday column.
His USA Today column is about 400 words, though it used to be a drop longer, but was trimmed due to advertisements.
"It's not a lot of words to get in, state a case and get out," said Wilson, who reads the New York Times and Washington Post on a daily basis. "There often are stories that I am interested [in reading in other publications], but am amazed how long the story is and wonder who really is going to read it. They're just too long for me. Hey, [this is] the era of Twitter, where you have 140 characters to say something."
Wilson has a running list of column ideas; some have been on the list for a long time and never become columns, though. Some are natural columns, such as the time when his dog died by his side.
Wilson received about 10,000 replies to that column.
"Even after all these years [writing the column], I'm still bad when it comes to judging what [the readers'] reactions will be," he said.
Wilson has repeatedly written about his mom, 91; and his partner, Jack, an epidemiologist.
"If I don't mention Jack for a while, people will email me, wondering if we're still together," Wilson said. "One of the most re-assuring things is when I get the emails from readers, especially when they say, 'I felt like I was listening to myself [while reading the column.]'"
Wilson has been nominated, but yet to win, the "Best Newspaper Columnist," presented by GLAAD.
"I have this tiny little stage, where I'm allowed to say things. I'm honored to be able to do so," Wilson said. "I have to confess, I'm kind of proud," of my presence in the LGBT community.
Wilson's words have long touched the LGBT community. There was the email he once received from a 15-year-old gay male in Nebraska who thought he was alone until reading Wilson's work. Wilson showed that, yes, you can be successful personally and professionally, and be gay. "That means a lot to me," he said.
Wilson admitted he was sad to hear of numerous recent closings of LGBT newspapers.
"I never like to see a newspaper close," he said. "But I'd also like to think of it as evolution, that [LGBT] media was/is not needed anymore because the mainstream press covers gay issues as well."
Even Pride parades have changed over the years, Wilson noted.
"[The Pride parades] were needed 25 years ago, and they are still good, but I think, well, [being gay] is not that big of an issue anymore," he said. "My nieces and nephews who are in their 20s and grew up in Minnesota, they don't care [that I am gay.] I think we're evolving, we're healthier; I think we're OK."
As the world evolves and the LGBT community becomes further intertwined in the mainstream world, Wilson's hate-mail has slowed. Dramatically.
He now gets "fewer and fewer and fewer" such letters. "There were more [hate mail letters] 10 and 15 years ago. I can't tell you the last time I got one. [It's] almost down to nothing now," he said.