The Pumas were not a hit. Next.
Every fall our mother would buy us three new items: a pack of Hanes socks, an even bigger pack of Hanes underwear, and a pair of shoes to begin the school year. Socks and underwear, well, those were boring buys for a child, but shoes that was just magical. Ahh, the feel of new shoes that were just too white so white you needed to go and get them dirty to make them yours.
That feeling has changed though. Now, I have so many shoes that my bookshelf also serves as a display rack for my footwear in my bedroom, and I probably only wear 5 of the over 30 pairs that I have. (Ladies, you know what I’m talking about.)The magic was gone. The trick revealed until Jon, my boyfriend, brought it back.
Since starting my clothing fast in January, I haven’t really even tried on a pair of shoes in the store. What is the point when I can’t buy them? I’m not going to totally torture myself. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t have someone else try them on. . . . No, Jon did not try on women’s shoes for me. He did something even better, and it all started when he said, “I think I may need some new shoes,” while we prepared salmon and salad for supper last weekend.
“Really?” (Insert a silly stupid look on my face as if I just found out I was going to get a pony. Oh, and I’m eight not twenty-nine.)
“Yeah.” He stopped sprinkling seasoning on the fish and looked down at his shoes. “They used to be white.”
I dropped the knife I had been cutting tomatoes with on my washing machine (My house is so tiny the laundry room is in the kitchen.) and jumped and clamped my hands together. “Yes!”
Jon laughed. “Why are you so excited?”
“I love shoe shopping!”
He smiled, but it was not an excited smile, more of an “Oh, no, what have I said?”
“Let’s go tomorrow! And, you can’t just try on one pair and be done like you did with your glasses.” That’s a whole other story, check out “Shopping with Clark Kent.”
The next day, Jon was a good sport, going into over six stores and allowing me to live through his shoe shopping experience by letting me analyze and pick apart every shoe he was interested in and then say, “Well, they are your feet, your shoes, so you should get what we want.” Women couldn’t be more unclear.
Jon came out of the mall with more shopping bags than me.
What did he ultimately decide on? At the end of the day, he toted a simple yet stylish pair of low gray Vans from Zumiez as well as a shirt and tie from Express. Yes, we even got to go into Express too; I was living it up even though I couldn’t buy anything.
So, now, Jon has new shoes, but the excitement is still not over. Why? Because he hasn’t worn them yet! They have been sitting in their box untouched, un-peeked at for four days. If they were mine, I would have slept in them that night.
Jon, when are you going to wear your new shoes? You’re killing me!
Women, am I crazy? When you buy new shoes, don’t you wear them within at least 12 hours of purchasing them?
the Clothing Fast Project 