If the Shoe Fits

I just cleaned out my shoe closet. That may not sound like a big deal, but my 2010 living simply goals will not include living without many pairs of shoes. Cleaning out my shoe closet means moving all of my sandals and flip-flops to an under-the-bed plastic container and putting all of my sturdy boots and close-toed shoes in the cubbies in my closet. These are the cubbies that my husband delightedly calls my Imelda rack.

By this admission, it's pretty easy to figure out that I live in a seasonal climate. Although we sometimes say that Chicago has two seasons, winter and construction, we do actually have four seasons. I try to keep my toenails in view well into November and pull out the sandals as soon as I can bear it in April -- my southern Ohio roots just cannot be modified by the change in where I live. I can truthfully say that I wear all of my shoes at sometime or another during the year, and I do replace shoes when they wear out and get rid of the old ones. I fully believe that I deserve a medal for cleaning out my shoe closet, considering how much I love shoes.

A friend of mine said that once you give up on high heels, you have given up on life. I can remember the day as if it was yesterday that I gave up high heels for good, it's so vividly imprinted in my brain. I had to go to a shoe store and buy a new pair of lower-heeled shoes because my feet hurt so badly I could not walk another step in my very cute spectator pumps. Sigh. I've been wearing sensible shoes for a long time now, and it is sometimes hard to believe that I no longer wear shoes like these to-die-for booties. They meet all of my requirements -- open-toed, hot pink, glittery. The feet and knees that were destroyed by too many years of marching band and being overweight just can't handle it anymore. So sad.

The thing is, each shoe has a story, and sometimes it's hard to throw those stories away. As I put away this year's sandals, I remember the first time I wore those gold Finn Comforts in San Francisco during spring break, never thinking that I might get a blister. By the time I got to London in July, they were so well worn in that they never gave me a whisper of trouble. Then there are the two pairs of flip-flops that my daughter gave me for pedicures; I can never give them up. I wore two pairs of black leather European shoes all over Vienna and Salzburg when we traveled to Austria; they worked to keep us anonymous in the post 9/11 European climate that hated American tourists and I still have both pairs of those finely crafted shoes. My new Toe Warmers boots are the best boots that I have ever owned; they have taken me all over Chicago this Christmas vacation with warm and dry tootsies, as well as supporting my arches and ankles and protecting me from hard pavements with their thick soles. These boots allowed me to spend quality time with my family and enjoy life without my feet hurting. Pretty high praise for a simple winter boot, I think.

As I plan my trip to France this summer, I will once again be deciding which shoes will "fit" my needs. Since I have to pick just a couple of pairs in which to tour, I must be very careful, and I love the anticipation of shopping for France. Best of all, the shoes that come home will tell more stories.

What shoes "fit" you? Are you going to walk in some different shoes this year? I'd love to hear your stories. Bonne année!