The secret between me and my socks

I haven't had a pair of new running shoes/sneaker-like shoes in a long time. I had a pair that I liked once, but I totally trashed them in Russia. Ever since then I've struggled finding a pair of shoes that fits.

I've had a few pair handed down from my mom, but she walks differently than I do so I could never really get into the groove of the shoe.

I had a really nice pair passed down from Josie when her feet passed mine up size-wise, but they had leather tops and I didn't know it was real leather so went hiking in Wadi Mujib wearing those particular shoes and after they dried there was no hope of ever wearing them again. Plus, Josie had pulled off some of the bottom of the shoe to prove to Mom that she needed new ones, so a bunch of that was pulled off by the force of the water. I left those in the dump in Jordan. What is with me and leaving my favorite shoes trashed in foreign countries?

Since coming home from Jordan I've been alternating between a pair of boots (hand-me downs from Josie) and my Egypt sandals... and I bought a pair of new flip flops since my pair from last year are paper-thin.

We just had a cold snap and so Andrew and I decided it was high time I got a pair of shoes to wear. We went shoe shopping yesterday because Andrew was in a particularly patient mood.

My feet are size 6 or 7 in women's and size 4 or 5 in girl's. The problem is that every shoe fits a little bit differently so you can never be entirely sure which size of which shoe will fit. That means that you have to try on every pair of shoes in the whole store, which means you can only go shoe shopping with your husband if he is in a particularly patient mood.

I tried on all the shoes in the women's section, but the only shoe that fit me right had a size 9 in the box for the other shoe, which wouldn't do at all. So we moved on to the children's section (which averages $5 cheaper). I found the most perfect pair of shoes ever! I tried on one shoe, and it fit. Then I put in my other foot in the other shoe.

It's my "other foot" (read: right foot) that presents problems. My big toe sticks up funny. It stuck up funny before I broke it, but it was workable. Ever since I broke it, it sticks up a lot more than it used to. My "other foot" didn't fit in the shoe because my toe touched the top of the shoe, which gets rather annoying and uncomfortable.

So, I put down the shoes that were perfect looks-wise and started trying on every other shoe in the children's section.

This is a painfully slow process to go through to find a pair of shoes ordinarily, but when you are 8 months pregnant and find it difficult to bend over, it is an even slower process, which means that your husband has to be in an even more particularly patient mood.

"Andrew, will you pick that box up off the floor?"

"Yes, dear."

"Andrew, will you take this shoe off my foot?"

"Yes, dear."

"Andrew, those shoes are purple and sparkly and they light up! I can't try them on."

"But they're size 5!"

"Put them back!"

"Okay, try these."

"Andrew! Those have Bratz on them! I'm not wearing shoes with Bratz on them!"

"Fine...but they're size five..."

I think he enjoyed himself a little bit much, taking every caution I gave him about shopping for shoes in the children's section (no sparkles, no cartoon characters, etc., etc., etc.) and throwing it to the wind.

At long last we found a pair of shoes that fit all of my toes and looked decent on my feet (still not as good as the uber-cute shoes, but...oh, well). I wasn't too keen on them at first, but they were comfortable and Andrew was able to talk me into getting them, despite their flaws.

You see, the shoes are "skater shoes" and I certainly am not a "skater" type personality.

I wore them to work today and my friend, Rachel, and I were talking about them. I told her of the little flaw they have and she said, "That's okay--it's just a secret between you...and your socks."


See? Skulls and crossbones really aren't my style, even if their eyes are little hearts (which only slightly girlifies the shoes) instead of empty sockets. At least they fit and are comfortable and the only thing wrong with them is the inner sole, which is still comfortable.