Shoe Stories

This wasn't suppose to be a countdown, BUT, three weeks and counting until I leave for Japan.

Last week I decided that I needed to find a pair of good walking shoes for my trip. I like to take this moment to tell you that my favorite flat black shoes have died. I have never had a pair so comfortable. They felt like slippers. They were grown up shoes (well not with heels). I had a special bond with these shoes and wore them every day since I bought them in Haarlem, Amsterdam.
These shoes represented my ability to visit a foreign country and survive on my own. Last December when Bill and I went to visit Sue in Holland, Bill had to leave after one week. This left me to be with Sue and Lothar on my own. However Sue had found a job and well really I was on my own during the days. During an adventure to downtown Haarlem, I decided to shop. They have wonderful stores there. I went into a shoe store and was inudated with salespersons speaking Dutch. Of course I apologized that I did not know their language. Through a series of smiles , gestures and pointing, I was able to find out what shoe size I needed. After some time, I found two pairs that fit like gloves and felt absolutely great. Never in my shoe shopping experience has this been so! I bought both of them and left.
These shoes have been worn everyday since then. I loved them. Alas I wore them out. Scuffed and salt soaked leather gave way to a unholy hole. They are now sitting on my shoe rack where they will be for a long time until I HAVE to discard them. They are good for shlepping around to the garbage room.
I have been looking for several weeks for a new pair of replacement shoes. However, I had not been able to find a pair to equal its comfort. Or I wasn't ready to replace my other ones. Alas last week I went shopping and was not to come home until I found a good pair of good looking fashionable black leather slip ons.
I do not want to sound old, but when the heck did shoes hit one hundred and thirty dollars a pair? I was thinking of the two pairs that I bought in Holland for equivalent one hundred dollars! Store to store over the weeks and through every store possible, I have come to accept that these replacement shoes will cost over one hundred dollars. Oi.
Shoe shopiing has never been one of those things that I enjoy. I never ever was a shoe woman, that is until the girls left home and then I started to buy the odd one. That is hiking shoes, areobics shoes, running shoes for walking, sandals, nursing shoes, and one utility black pumps for all other dress up occasions.
When I was a teenager in the late sixties and early seventies, I took on the hippie look. Barefoot was the way to go. God it made mom mad. I loved the barefoot freedom. Shoes were the "establishments" way. I would concede to a pair of sandals sometimes called "Jesus boots". Barefoot was my way.
In 1966 in grade six there was a fashion that was started by Nancy Sinatra. She sang the song, "These Boots Were Made For Walking" and wore a pair of white "go go " boots. Gogo boots, I had to have them. I bugged mom until I finally got a pair. They were fashionable. I learned two things then. Fashion is not comfortable. The second thing is that fashion boots need fashion clothes to pull off the look. Hmm, bummer! I wore them a few times and they died in the pristine white shape I was given them.
These and many more tales of shoes in my life are safely tucked deep in the creases of my brain every time I go shoe shopping. However that day I was on a mission.
After trying on some clothes and buying some books (I was stalling), I finally entered my first shoe store.
It was one of those glossy youngish shoe stores. The sales clerks couldn't have been more than twenty. On the sales rack, I found a pair that fit my parameters. I was the only customer in the store. There were three salesclerks. They were engaged in a heated argument about time schedules and early starts. I picked up the shoe which to me is the universal sign for I need help. No help was to come. I finally interupted the discussion and asked if they had this shoe in my size. You would have thought I asked how to get to the moon. Finally one of them takes the shoe and disappears to the back room. She comes back to me and says no they don't and handed me back the shoe and proceeded to rejoin the heated discussion. I put it back and left the store rather put off.
Not to be deterred, I proceeded to the second store. Naturalizer, is a store that us middle age women tend to shop in for shoes. I thought this would be a sure thing. Once again I enter the store and am the only customer. There is a twenty something male behind the counter. He is well dressed his nails are manicured and his hair is perfect. This looks promising. He greets me. I follow with small talk like I am going to Japan for a month and I need a good pair of walking shoes. He says to me, "well you came to the right store." I stand there and look at him and he looks at me. Oh, I get it, I have to find them myself. Searching I find three prospects, and two are on sale. I take them to the counter and ask him for size 8 1/2 in these three. He takes the first pair and disappears to the back. Several minutes later he comes back and says he has a 7 1/2 and they are in his hands. I felt like saying well wait a minute lets see if I can negotiate my foot size with my feet. I politely say no that won't work. He takes the first pair and returns them to the back. I am left waiting at the counter. He returns and looks at me as if I am a new customer. I ask if he could check for the other shoes in my size 8 1/2. He takes the next shoe and and once again disappears for a long time. He comes back with two boxes and it looks hopeful. He has a size 9 and 7 1/2. Well no those won't work either. I jokingly say to him, " I thought I had big feet and would find the sales shoes easily." He comes around the counter and looks at my feet for a rather uncomfortable length of time and says to me, " you don't have big feet, BUT you don't have small feet either." He walks behind the counter. Well, I didn't know whether to laugh or be offended. While I am deciding he takes the two pairs of shoes that aren't my size back to shoe heaven. After five minutes and no sales person, I cough and say excuse me. He comes out and looks at me once again like I am a new customer. Once again, I ask if he could look for a size 8 1/2 in the last pair of shoes which of course were not on sale. He leaves and comes back with you guessed it a 7 1/2. No, I need a 8 1/2. He goes back and I am no longer amused. He comes back with the right size. Things are looking up. He hands me the pair. Another customer is now in the store and I feel like telling her to run away. I try on the left shoe and well it seems pretty good. I try the right shoe and can't even get my foot into it. What the heck? I look at the second shoe and see that it is, wait for it, a size 7 1/2. What the hell? I tell him that he has a pair that is not a pair. He looks at them. He compares them and says well that is strange. He looks down on the counter and laughs and says sheepishly that oh he brought me the one shoe from the display. He brings me the correct right shoe. I walk ten feet and can't remember what they felt like, because I was not buying anything here. I say no thank you and as I am leaving he tries to sell me this hiddeous pair of running shoes that he assures me that women my age really like. I am now running. Double oi.
I have lunch and ponder my options. After a refreshing Arby's curly fries and diet coke, I decide to try one more store.
The shoe store is R and R. It is noted for it's walking and hiking attire. I go into the store and find two pair of shoes that look promising. Neither of them are on sale. I don't care. The only sales person looks at me directly and says he will find me the size 8 1/2 in both of the shoes. He comes back with two boxes with the correct shoes and the right sizes. I try them on and find one that is pretty good. I buy them. I run.
I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. The shoes are here and I am still wearing the old black Holland ones. I will take blister bandages for the new shoes.
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