shoes...friend or foe?

tabitha simmons' bathtub full of shoes

i am a lover of shoes. i know no discrimination when it comes to shoes - monochrome or colorful, flat or sky high, new or old, pricey or bargain, it's all the same to me. when i was 12, the summers in stillwater were ridiculous! i'm talking frying-your-eggs-on-the-sidewalk-hot or boiling-tea-in-a-jar-hot! my mom and i would go shopping for essentials and i would purposefully leave my shoes in the car, run and skip all the way to the mall burning my feet JUST so Mama Mash would feel sorry for me when we had to walk back to the car and get me a new pair of shoes! this only worked twice, but you can understand just how far i was willing to go only at age 12, for a new pair of shoes.

 i can't remember when my love-affair with pretty soles began but ever since i've been of sound mind, i've been told that my love-affair is a destructive one...that "i will go broke and live in my shoes" (though that isn't completely impossible...there was once an old lady who lived in a shoe, right?) and i have had to calm down. i now have a new policy; if i get a new pair of shoes, i choose to give one away/buy one for someone that needs a pair. 

but the reason i'm writing this is not to go on and on and on about my love for shoes and how i don't want to end up like carrie bradshaw (i.e. asking my best friend to pawn her engagement ring so that i can pay off my debt - that is just cruel) but to sort of explain what goes on in my head (heart & feet) when i get a new pair of shoes. you see, my logic is simple. everyday, we get up and go on with life, taking on all of life's champagne bubbles and sometimes flat, hot beer - all with our feet supporting us every step of the way (hehe). our shoulders don't carry the weight of the world, our feet do. and what better way to say thank you to our pillars of strength than with a  (sometimes) comfy, beautiful pair of shoes?

of course the thank you gift to our pretty walkers needs to be within reason. one should never consider selling a body part to buy a pair of shoes. i can't imagine loving a pair of shoes that cost me a kidney, or happiness or anything else of value. but i do think that feet (and so many people cringe when they think of them) deserve a little love. and nobody should ever go without a pair of shoes.

love to you!