Shoe-shopping

Although supposed to be a woman’s prerogative,shopping clothes and shoes for myself has never been a pleasant trip for me- maybe my genes are to blame for this – it is because I am short-and-not-slim and its quite a job to find clothes that fit me without getting them altered and at least clothes can be cropped, hemmed and later ironed to make them look even, but what can you do with footwear?I hope in future the omniscient human mind can devise shoes that can be altered to fit, but that is a vain hope.

As if being short was not enough, God has gifted me with a pair of really tiny and narrow feet. Some people say they like my child-like, seemingly dainty feet but only someone who has a pair like mine would understand how very difficult it is to find shoes to strap those problem feet onto. They are a menace when my shoes are worn out and I am forced to buy another pair. Unless not in dire need ,I avoid shoe shopping.
All my life I have been wearing shoes that fit my feet,not shoes that I love.The ones I like are never available in my size, so I force myself to like those which are available.

Good news, spring season is here as the winter is fading out – all the shoe stores are flaunting their collection of summer shoes and sandals all over, on the TV ,in catalogs delivered in the mailbox, flyers in the newspaper, every place you can think of.

This Saturday morning, there was a really attractive, colorful can’t-be-missed pamphlet in the newspaper, of a prominent shoe store displaying the huge panoply of shoes – all adorning pairs of perfectly pedicured feet. The colors were brilliant. The advertiser had done a fantastic job, those shoes really glittered like jewels. I didn’t get the chance to shove off that glossy booklet before hubby’s eyes caught it, and as soon as I caught him glancing at it, I knew it was coming – “Lets buy shoes for you from this place.” Well , I don’t blame him for that because if I really like an advertised shirt ,I want him to wear it. After all, what to do- thanks to marriage – we are the sole ones that we have in our lives– I am the only woman for him(I pity him), he is the only man for me.

So although I knew it was a bad idea, I trudged along to this store to buy shoes for me.Their collection was huge, well-stacked – rows and rows of proudly sitting, shining shoes- a heaven for shoe-lovers – and the salespersons were radiant with bonhomie. But I have bought too many shoes in my lifetime to hustle a salesperson for fishing out shoes my size and getting myself embarrassed by the bottomline –“Sorry ma’m, these are the smallest we have”. So carefully avoiding any eye contact with the salespeople, I started the hunt for shoes my size with hubby on my side.

I picked some that looked small, tried them on, although the length was OK but they were too broad on the front, so my toes were deprived of the grip. After all a shoe has be snug for a comfortable stride. Hubby fished out some which would have been his dream shoes for a woman, but they had pointed heels. What did he want – to be 200% sure that I twist and fall and sprain or break some of my body parts. No stilettos for me please- I am perfectly capable of twisting my ankle without any reason. Yes I can fall down and trip over the smallest object kept in my way even when I am wearing flat shoes and I have done that when it was totally unneeded – my feet have done this on each of our vacation. Maybe he has forgotten those times but I was fresh with those memories and I told him firmly –“We are not here to buy your dream shoes, I want something which I can be comfortable with.” He got the subtle message wrapped in a warning and quickly and carefully steered away, sensing ahead was a ditch he was driving into.

After scanning thoroughly the women shoes area without any success, we knew what to do next-as we always do as a protocol, sneak into the kids shoes area. Yes honestly, sometimes I find shoes for me in the kids shoes. By then ,I was tired and angry and disappointed after trying so many shoes, but hubby was determined. Wasn’t it amusing- he was the tallest guy around , reaching up the stacks, fervently flipping open the boxes, searching for the smallest shoe. So he did find some decent looking shoes that could contain my feet, but they had “Barbie” or “Princess” or “Candies” written on the side where it showed and hubby says -“Take it,no one would notice.”
OK I know a major part of my day is spent in front of the computer monitor and the monitor can stare only at my face,it can’t snoop down to my shoes.He meant that who ever cares to look at my shoes other than him!!Agreed but I have some dignity at least.I gave him a look he knows well enough to avoid spoiling his weekend and he replaced those shoes where they belonged.I swear, had the Princess,Barbie been written on the area covered by feet, I would have taken them but no thanks- If I had a daughter instead of son, I would have loved to buy those Barbie shoes for her, but not for me. Those were shoes for kids, not moms and also I dreaded the day my son would reveal to one of his girl classmates -“My mommy got the same shoes like you”.

So having walked each aisle, sifting through boxes, putting shoes on and off, we were exhausted but still nowhere near the goal– no shoes for me in that stack of millions. But I couldn’t believe it, when towards the end of the debacle, hubby said- “ Lets look tomorrow in another store.” Patience and perseverance- those he can mention as his strengths/soft skills while filling out his next job application – thanks to shoe-shopping.