In Honor of Shoes

We took a trip to the children’s museum this morning because it was a little rainy out, and very, very wet. The main exhibit right now was all about shoes. It was so neat. There was a giant walk-in playhouse fashioned like the old woman in the shoe might have lived in. Inside it was a play wood burning stove, a little bed, table and lots of pretend vegetables in the kitchen. My kids loved it so much they could have spent all day playing. There was also a play shoe store, and lots of neat exhibits where you could try on shoes and tap dance, see shoes worn by Michaal Jordan and Oprah Winfrey, design your own shoes, read about interesting shoes made around the world and throughout history, match up pairs of socks and shoes, etc.

So, in honor of learning about shoes today, I thought I’d write about my favorite pair of shoes, these wonderful sandals. First of all, let it be known, that I am not a shoe girl. I hate shoe shopping. I don’t like having lots of different shoes. I really need just four or five pairs, and I think I actually own about eight or nine pairs of shoes, maybe. I like a good, sensible well fitting shoe that lasts a LONG time before I need to venture out and purchase a new pair of shoes. I have slip on shoes for winter, walking shoes for winter, tennis shoes, hiking boots, snow boots, a pair of winter dress shoes and a pair of terrific sandals for summer (actually I have two pairs of sandals) and some quick flip flop shoes.

My favorite shoes of all are these amazing sandals. I wear them all throughout the spring, summer and early fall seasons, almost every single day, nearly every place I go. They are made by Born, and my last pair lasted almost five years, which is a long, long time for sandals that get used so much. By the end of their long, lustrous life, repairing them was not an option, so last year while I was pregnant, I purchased a new pair. It took several weeks to break them in, but now they are incredibly sweet to my sole. The leather is soft and velvety on my feet, and the bottom of the shoe is cushy and grippy.

Isn’t a shoe exhibit for a children’s museum a neat theme? When used to teach English, I used to have my middle school students take their shoes off and put them on their desks and write about them. They would describe their shoes in detail, brainstorm about places their shoes had been, and write personal narratives or creative stories that centered on footwear. They were always surprised by the assignment and usually did a great job writing. I always said if you can write about shoes, you can write about anything.