Shoes

A very intelligent woman once said “It's really hard to walk in a single woman's shoes -- that's why you sometimes need really special shoes!” Now if you aren’t quite sure who that intelligent woman is, you either need to google it and act like you did, or quit reading immediately!

I often find myself needing really special shoes… For instance, what shoes do you wear when you break up with your live-in boyfriend of 3 years and move to a new state all in 3 days? What shoes do you put on to go out with our girlfriends that you haven’t seen in almost 3 years? What shoes should you wear when your best friend and roommate tells you she is pregnant and you know that he is a jerk? What shoes do you wear to look for a job after you’ve decided teaching isn’t for you? What shoes are appropriate when you find out the only place you can get a job is KinderCare? What shoes tell him how you really feel? What shoes do you wear to tell your parents you are absolutely, 100%, flat broke? What shoes say “I found out you are cheating on me” so that you don’t have to? What shoes do you wear to your ten year high school reunion when you are the last person on earth not married with children? What shoes do you have on when your mom tells you she has cancer? And what shoes do you wear to sit at your friends house and cry later that night? What shoes do you wear after two bottles of wine so that you don’t fall down? Which pair of heels says (most of the time) I don’t mind that I’ve been single for 3 years? Where do you find the shoes to tell everyone you know how grateful you are to be where you are, with the people you are with?

There are a lot of shoes we will wear in life, and they will all serve different purposes. Different pairs of shoes make me feel different ways. Heels make me feel like I have a secret. Flip flops make me feel free. Tennis shoes make me feel awkward. And bare feet feel like home.