I came home from class one day a few weeks ago to find that Rachel, my seven year old, had arranged my shoes in neat little rows. This was a surprise to me considering I had bought her a shoe carousel a few months ago to organize her multitude of shoes and yet hers are all in a pile at the bottom of her closet. I guess that shouldn't be a shock when I tell you that I generally kick my shoes off into a spot next to my dresser, just below the one window I have in my apartment bedroom. Like mother, like daughter. I rarely put my shoes neatly away in my own closet, but when I do it only takes a few days before I have a huge pile of them in that same spot on my bedroom floor. I don't even remember wearing most of them, yet there they are.
Rachel has a love of shoes that started at an unusually young age. When she was just two years old, I remember walking out of a store holding her on my hip when we passed another mom with her little girl. The girl was about the same age as my Rachel. I remember one thing about her other than her age: her boots. Red cowgirl boots, to be exact. I look back on this moment and I see it in black and white, sort of like the early part of The Wizard of Oz, except the ruby slippers are boots and in this black and white part of the film, the boots are bright red. As we passed the woman with her daughter, Rachel's eyes got big and she watched them walk all the way into the store then looked at me and said, "I love her boots" with such awe in her voice that I knew from that moment on I would have a little fashionista on my hands.
My own love of shoes goes hand-in-hand with the many hobbies I have. Over the past couple of years, I have been taking dance lessons with my boyfriend. Two-step, West Coast Swing, Double Two-step, and now Waltz. Our dance instructor is hoping to get us into competitions soon, but with our busy schedules, we are slow at putting together our routines. My dance shoes are far from glamorous, but they are quite likely my favorite pair of shoes because they allow me to do something I love. They are plain black with a low heal and the leather is worn and faded, but to me they are my most valuable pair of shoes.
There are of course my every day shoes, shoes for casual wear, formal wear, flip flops, boots (for when I go horse-back riding) boots (just-because) and my good ol' Chuck Taylors. Then there are my running shoes, my blue and white Nike+ tennis shoes with the chip that syncs to my iPhone so I can track my progress. I'm a sporadic runner, but I'm hoping to sign up for a 5k this summer, so I'm trying to take it more seriously. Today, I logged 2.5 miles. (Okay, I walked some of it, but it's a start.)Add to all those shoes, my speed skates for our once a week trips to the rink and I'd say I have a pretty grand inventory of foot apparel that really isn't all that fashionable, but by golly, I have a lot of fun because of my feet. I think they deserve a nice pedicure for all the hard work.
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