Have you ever seen a big gangly puppy with huge paws, and you just know that’s gonna be a BIG dog?
When I was 12 years old, I was that giant puppy. My feet had hit size 10 women’s shoes. My mom’s feet were a size smaller! I couldn’t even wear her shoes. Thank goodness my feet stopped growing (until I had kids, but that’s later…) and eventually I grew tall enough to look proportional.
Do you know how difficult it was to find age-appropriate shoes for a 12-year-old in size 10 in the mid-1980s? Can you say nightmare?
Now, after having two kids, my feet scream if I go near a 10.5, so why fight it? I wear size 11.
Chances are that if I didn’t try them on first, they wouldn’t fit.
One time, my husband surprised me with a new pair of shoes. Sadly, he’d gotten the wrong size, so I had to take them back.
The return gave me the opportunity to “thank” the salesman for whichever teammate of his (I still think he was the guilty one), who asked my husband if he wanted to try them on before he bought them.
The guy looked surprised anyone would say that to a customer. *rolls eyes* Seriously, dude, they weren’t even heels. They were brown flats, and you thought a guy was buying them for himself?
By the way, my feet are smaller than my husband’s. Just sayin’.
Big shoes take up a lot of space.
Usually, I pack as lightly in the shoe selection as possible. BUT it’s a big conference (RWA Nationals), and I have outfits and I need my dress boots, running shoes, sandals, silver flats (oh, no, I almost forgot to pack those!), and comfy ankle boots. I refuse to get blisters again, people.
One of my neighbors loves shoes–LOVES shoes. She has at least 300 pair (true story). Yeah, and she’s tiny, too, which means her feet are small, which means her shoes are small. Theoretically, that means her shoes are easier to pack because they take up less space, but she packs more of them. I have no sympathy for her… 😀
It’s not worth torturing the toes.
I’ll never be one to own that many pairs of shoes. If they hurt, they get donated. I have no use for a pair of shoes that will cramp my toes or blister my heels. I don’t care how cute the pair is or what memories were made while wearing them.
If they hurt, they go, so that doesn’t leave a big-shod girl many cute options.
My favorite feet insults.
“Going skiiing with those things?” (Works with water and snow skiing.)
“Your feet make a snowshoe hare jealous.”
“Are those feet or boats?”
“Bigfoot called. He wants his feet back.”
Love them forever. Buy the same ones again and again.
When I find a pair I love, I’ll wear them forever. I will hunt down new ones in the same style and in different colors.
Next time you see someone wondering around the shoe store and ignoring cute style after cute style, just say a kind word to yourself (she probably doesn’t need the reminder that the shoe size selection sucks). Most likely, she isn’t even looking at the styles, she’s looking at the available sizes to see if her size is there. If it is, then she looks at the style to see if it fits the wardrobe needs.
Sadly, when she travels, she will need a suitcase just for her shoes. Yes, I do mean me. 😉
I did manage to get a few other things into that suitcase, but my feet will thank me later.
What funny shoe stories do you have? How many pairs of shoes do you own?