Today's Mantra: Purchase More Shoes

I love shoes. I have not always but at the tender age of 15, on my very first job at Burdines Dept. store in South Florida I was stationed in the Shoe Dept. Every week boxes of fascination would be delivered in huge Burdines trucks and it was my job to unbox them and place them on the shelves in the closet according to designer, color, size and style. I will never forget the pair of shoes that turned my life around. They were gorgeous! Red and White! I would have probably never noticed them if I had not dropped a box and it opened, spilling it's contents on the ground at my feet....there they were....the cutest red and white shoes I had ever seen. I had just bought a red and white outfit...and they were the perfect complement for my pants suit. I laid the box to the side and when I was off the clock, retrieved them and took them to the checkout counter. I received the customary 10% discount and walked to my locker to put my new acquisition safely inside. It has been downhill ever since. I love shoes. I love them in all colors. Sometimes if I find a pair that fits particularly well I will buy them in all colors. Sometimes I buy them with nothing to wear them with....in hopes of finding something at a later date. (That does not always work and I would suggest avoiding that plan in the future.) My first pair of expensive shoes cost me 45.00 in 1969. They were blue tasseled Bass Weejuns. I bought them at a specialty store across the street from Burdines. It was the best 45.00 I ever spent. I was in the tenth grade at the time and I will have you know that after several resolings I threw those shoes away on my 40th birthday. They lasted 25 years. I figure that is a little less than 2.00 a year for wear. Not a bad investment. As I have aged I have discovered that there is a different kind of shoe I seek now....the comfortable ones. I do not have to impress people with my ability to wear 3 inch heels all day....so I don't. I teach high school kids....they don't care if I wear heels. So I have joined the Clarks, Bjorn, Bass, Birkenstock, New Balance brigade and go for comfort. I still love shoes....they just serve a different purpose. Loafers, sandals and boots are my downfalls now. Don't get me wrong....I still own heels and wear them for dressy events and to church on Sunday occassionally...but shed them quickly in the car for the pair of tennis shoes I keep in the trunk to exercise with. I am like most women and suffer from that rascal PMS....but in my case....it means...purchase more shoes. Cinderella is my kind of woman....she got the man of her dreams....and it was all because of a shoe. Happy Shoe Hunting! Karen