Weekend Assignment #29: Your Shoes!
Do you have a favorite pair of shoes? A pair that you wish you could wear for everything because you like how they look or you like how your feet feel inside them? They can be a pair you have now or had when. Tell us why they were so special.
Extra credit: A picture of them!
Here it is, quite possibly the most pathetic shoe collection of any female blogger in America, excluding any homeless female bloggers who might be out there. Please note the dust covering the pairs on the shoe tree thing. The only ones I ever wear are the rose-colored slippers (in winter only), the off-white sneakers and the black sneakers - okay, "athletic shoes" - in the foreground.
The white and the black athletic shoes are Athletic Works Silver Series, men's size 10 1/2 W. They retail at Wal-Mart for about $10, which is a good thing, because I have to replace them every couple of months when the outer edge of the heel wears down. Two weeks ago, I could have shown you five or six pairs of these, most black, one in gray. I've since dropped the old ones off at church for donation to desperate Haitians, who may not mind too much that the heels are a little worn at one edge.
Why do I wear such crummy shoes? Self-preservation.
I've had bad feet for most of my life. I used to blame this on the rusty nail I stepped on when I was eight (why was there a rusty nail under my swingset?), or maybe from wearing thongs (flip-flops to you) every summer as a kid. The truth, however, is that my feet are just big and flat, and much the worse for wear from all the times I've sprained or broken an ankle, and from all the years of carrying around a heavy, clumsy person.
Add my fan-tailed warbler saga to the list of stories I'll get around to telling you someday. I had to hike out of a canyon on two sprained ankles because of that bird.
If I wear any shoes other than Athletic Works Silver Series men's size 10 1/2 W (with extra insoles shoved in them), it's not long before at least one of my feet (the left one, I think) starts to ache. Soon I start limping. I was diagnosed with heel spurs at one point, fallen arches at another point. I've had painful cortisone shots, paid hundreds of dollars for custom insoles that didn't quite fit, built my own insoles from bits and pieces of foam and leather, plastic tape and a tube of boot repair goo, and on occasion bought $60 to $80 shoes instead of $10 ones. No treatment, product or remedy has been as helpful as buying a certain kind of cheap shoes at Wal-Mart.
If I had small, dainty, healthy feet and a body to match, I'd probably get low hot pink or lunar blue pumps, and sandals such as Mary Magdalene might have had, and silver sneakers that Al Calavicchi (or his girlfriend Tina) would happily wear. Really, though, I don't care much about that. If my feet don't hurt today, that's good enough for me.
Karen
You are looking at an archive edition of 
5 years ago
6 comments:
Heh, my shoe collection could envy yours. I'm something of a pack rat when it comes to some things, but as for shoes - I'm the anti-Imelda.
I have to wear dress shoes every day to work, and I dread the idea of shoe shopping so much that I keep wearing shoes with torn heels and holes in the soles that I pray are too teensy for anyone to notice.
Hello...plantar fasciitis sufferer waves from the peanut gallery. Big flat painful feet. Yet another thing we have in common (with the ugly shoe collections to match). I wear Teva all terrain sandals all summer (gel soles, high impact, can go in the water...great great shoe) and I have these ultra soft leather shoe/boot things I found in an outdoor store in Vermont that I wore non-stop for years. They are finally falling apart and I fear I won't find anything winter friendly to wear on these feet ever again. Count yourself lucky you don't have to deal with snow and ice. I have my cheap walmart sneakers I got for when I started back to Curves...but they won't help on the ice. I'm going to be landing on my ass and breaking my tail bone again. Any day now. Just waiting for it. -B
You are a riot!
At least you have a shoe tree! Mine still reside in a small box used when we moved into this house 20 years ago. And you've seen my taste in shoes, Karen! And I'm glad to say you didn't run in fear! ;-)
I got an advice for you, throw all those shoes away, and start a new collection, this time one's that have style. Dont keep doing that mistake, again and again. No offense, ok.
If your feet hurt, it's hard to think about anything else. I can understand why you would choose the most comfortable shoes after all you've had to endure with your feet. Thanks for sharing your story!
Best wishes,
Debi
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