Many women adore shoes and cannot own enough of them. I am not one of those women. At any given time, I probably own between four and six pairs of footwear: one or two pairs of summer sandals, one or two pairs of fall/winter shoes, and one or two pairs of boots. All very clunky and geared to comfort.
Part of this is, of course, due to low income. I've tended to buy better shoes so they fit better and last longer, but this limits big time how many pairs you can afford to buy.
And (this is way TMI!) the underlying issue is that since I was about 12 years old, I have had bunions, where the bone near your big toe sticks out, making some shoes and sandals impossible to wear. When I was in my 30's, I asked a foot doctor why I had them, and he said it was because I had worn too many high heeled shoes when I was younger, which was hogwash, since I've never, ever worn high heels. Throughout junior and senior high, at private school, I had to wear brown leather sensible strapped shoes with my uniform, and for many years after that, the only shoes I wore (sometimes even to work) were light brown suede "Wallabees", which didn't hurt my feet. Those having become harder to find about thirty years ago (I don't buy shoes online), I've had several other go-to sensible shoes, although as the problem worsens and my toes are crossing over one another, the shoe "issue" becomes ever more challenging. At this point, most of my shoes are men's, since there is more room in front. I have my mother's (and her mother's) feet. This has been all about genetics -- and possibly heading in the wrong directions -- not high heels.
So, I've basically never looked twice at beautiful women's shoes -- until last night.
It's a long story, but a pair of shoes came to me completely unexpectedly, and they almost took my breath away. They are multicolor, with a black strap, on a black wedge heel. Even though they don't look one bit like Dorothy's ruby slippers, that is what they looked like to me -- magic slippers. I was sure they wouldn't fit, but they do...at least, I could get my feet into them and walk several steps. Several steps may always be the limit, but I am going to keep them, if only for the smile factor. They make me smile.
If nothing else is proof positive that I have entered a new reality, this is!
