Footwork

It occurred to me that when Polly and Emily were home last fall that they seemed to have a lot of gorgeous shoes. I mean, every time either one of them comes home, there are new and very stylish shoes. Sally would like that, too, except that, unfortunately she has to wear a lift, which eliminates some of the better looking footwear. Anyway, I wondered why the two of them are so well shod in the latest fashion.

The other day, while looking under my bed for a pair of shoes, I fished out a pair that I had forgotten I even owned. They were from last summer, which speaks to my housekeeping skills – and also, I guess, to the woman who comes to clean every two weeks. Anyway, I was happy to find them. Then I realized where the shoe fetish comes from.

I have always loved shoes. When I could wear just anything on my feet I had shoes to match just about everything I wore. When I was in college I had a pair of black suede sling pump platform shoes which were admired and borrowed frequently. They were quite high and I was tall, which made it difficult to dance with short guys, since I ended up looking at the top of their heads. Thank God I found John who was over six feet tall, with whom I could dance without staring at someone’s’ dandruffy pate.

It’s been a long time since I’ve worn high heels now, or platform soles. Back in the seventies when we were all wearing Dr. Scholl’s wooden soled sandals, I was always falling off them. The thought of stiletto heels gives me acrophobia and fear of falling, too.

Well, when I found those neat little summer shoes (I had just ordered from Zappo’a another pair of Merrell clogs, too, for summer) I decided to look in the closet and see what else I had forgotten about. I tend to live in Crocs these days, having forsaken Birkenstocks for the clumsy looking plastic things.

Pictured above are most of what I found.

I do wear them all (one pair at a time, of course) on occasion. I favor Merrells, Clarks and Easy Sprit, all of which are extremely comfortable which I find more important now than style. Although I think these are not too un-stylish unless you’re looking for whatever is the rage these days. Is Jimmy Choo still in?

When I see women on TV wearing those 6 inch heels with very pointy toes, my feet hurt at the mere sight. Sometimes you see them running in those things. Running! There’ll be a lot of old women some day with feet that will look like those horrid, tortured bound feet of old, warped out of foot like shape into something gnarled and distorted beyond human pedal extremities.

Anyway, I still like shoes and I do resist getting new ones. Since I have so many (there are more than are pictured above) they never seem to wear out. And I do admire the ones that my shoe loving daughters wear when they come home. It’s good thing I can’t wear that kind or I might eventually sweep a pair out from under my bed some year.

While writing this, I have been listening on my IPod to a recording of a Mozart Requiem which was perform med by the Canton Symphony and the KSU Chorus some years ago. Sally was a member of the chorus then. I attended the concert and it was the most glorious rendition I have ever heard of the glorious piece. One of her friends at WKSU was the recording technician WKSU station and gave her a copy of it. She put it on my IPod and I just love it. Mozart would have been thrilled to hear it done so beautifully. Seriously.