shoes and other fascinating things

One of my friends told me I was forever sixteen.  Wasn't sure what she meant by that...and i wasn't sure whether to be offended or flattered, but decided to turn it into a compliment, anyway.

There are people to whom everything is always new.  Is that me?  Not sure, but I've met those people and they are delightfully always sixteen.  Everything is an adventure to them - everything is always new, and that is not a bad thing...their lives are never dull.  They find joy in living and little things.  And they discover the obvious, in an innocent way.

For instance, shoes.  Now how do shoes tie into this?  Follow me - I'll show you.

The other night, I went shopping for new shoes.  I walk 10,000 miles of concrete a month, and have worn out two pairs of shoes this year.  Being on a limited budget, Walmart was my best bet.

And so there I was in the shoe department of Walmart - my cart loaded with groceries that included melting ice cream.  I wanted - no, NEEDED - a classy looking, comfortable, durable pair of shoes that would match everything in my wardrobe.  The first ones were pretty, but had a thin sole.  Everything else either had a 10 inch heel or was a tennis shoe.  It is strictly forbidden by policy for a DOC office employee to wear tennis shoes without a physician's order, so that was out.  I tried on countless pairs of flimsy footwear, modeled them to see how great they would look for two weeks and decided...oh, no! None of them would do.  I was resigned to wearing my cracked soles for another few days (and also resigned that my ice cream would leave a trail of gooey, flavored coffee creamer all the way to the checkout) when I saw them:  the butt ugliest pair of shoes ever made.  They reminded me of devil's food cookies, if that helps you visualize them at all.  And they were just my size...8W.

They had a thick sole and a built-up arch.  There were gel cushions in the heels.  And I knew...I KNEW before sliding my feet into them that they would feel like heaven with a zipper on the side, and they did.

But...they were SO ugly...

I remembered my soon to be neopolitan coffee creamer and made a quick decision. Yes, I would buy them.  I hauled the box off the shelf, threw it in the cart and ran to the checkout counter.

What does this have to do with forever sixteen?  In retrospect - nothing. But it occurs to me that, when shopping for footwear is high adventure, it's no wonder everything else is big.

Next week, I'm checking out designer toilet paper.