Shoes

7/25/2012

Shoes

Shoes – women love them and we have to have them - lots of them.  Men, bless their hearts, don’t understand.  Women believe there is no such thing as too many shoes.  You need them in a variety of heel heights, fabrics, leathers, colors, sandals, pumps and everything in between.

When I was a teenager I was a girly-girl.  Lucky for me both my father and mother supported my enthusiasm for a growing closet of clothes and shoes.  In the 60’s everything was matchy-matchy and your shoes, at the very least, had to compliment your outfit.  If the shoes matched in color so much the better.  So I ended up my high school years with caramel, green, red, white, tan, pink, brown and fuchsia shoes, in addition to the normal black and navy. There were heels which in the 60’s was practically a requirement when going out, t-straps, Mary Janes and shoes with buckles and bows.  All were beautiful, all were needed. 

Fast forward to married life and husbands don’t seem to understand as well as fathers do that multiple pair of shoes are simple necessities of life.  While I may no longer feel the need for pink shoes, I certainly do need navy, black, brown, tan, white, red and perhaps a really fun pair of mixed colors.  I guess having ONE of each of those colors of shoes wouldn’t be too bad; but I, like most women, need multiple pairs of each color.  You need tie shoes, slip on shoes, pumps, heels, sandals and flats.  Jeff calls me Imelda Marcos but he has no idea how few shoes I really have.  Compared to some women who have their closets lined up with shoe boxes, my 30 or so pairs  is just a drop in the bucket.  

The shoe issue is never more prevalent then when we are going to take a trip - in  the plane - with limited space and weight requirements.  I look at the agenda and know that I will need walking shoes, cocktail hour and banquet dinner shoes, sandals and something to wear to the pool and/or beach.  Oh plus the pair that I will actually fly in.  Extra shoes could in fact fill a small suitcase if you're not careful.

Jeff on the other hand brings two pair of shoes - max.  The pair that he's wearing when we leave home that he makes accommodate any social situation and a pair of flip flops for the pool. And he's good.  Issue solved.

Lucky for Jeff I don’t fall victim to the latest shoe fashions any longer.  I am now more or less a Birkenstock and SAS shoe wearer, for comfort and less fashion.  Luckily, for me both manufacturers have stepped up their looks and they now have some shoes that are more “with it” than before.  Birkenstocks used to be the hippie shoe and about as stylish as the box they came in.  This summer though I found some thonged Birkenstocks that have brought me many compliments at work as ladies can’t believe they are from the hippie shoe manufacturer. As for heels, I haven't worn any in years and years and sold my last few remaining pairs at a garage sale a few years ago.  Now my "going out" shoe is more of a one inch block heel that doesn't give me the wobbles.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go upstairs and rearrange my shoes - by color.

P