This blog is dedicated to my friend Bettie, who has even more shoes than I do!

According to my mother, I flew out of the womb, yelling, “Shoes, I need shoes!” That may be a slight exaggeration but my fascination with shoes started early. I refused to walk barefoot as a child. I liked my feet covered. Some would say adorned. A little sparkle always caught my eye.  I was also attracted to red shoes. For school – a stodgy parochial school where I wore uniforms — my practical mother tried to put me in Maryjanes but I clamored for really cool penny loafers with a shiny new penny. Then I had to have red sneakers for play.

When I went to high school, sneakers were the rage. I had them in several different colors including a pink plaid pair that I just loved.  I believe that is the only shoe I ever wore out.  As a younger woman, I wore what we called “spikes.” I am guessing they were about 3 inches high with pointy toes. And don’t forget the beloved platform shoes.  What I love best is that they come back every ten years or so.  I never throw mine out!

They make the best styles for women who can wear really high heels. Today, I see actresses wear “stilettos.” Descriptions have them at 5 inches or higher. How can anyone walk on those? My feet just aren’t long enough! I have enough trouble with a 2 inch heel which is the absolute highest I can go.  Somehow they always have an orthopedic look to them — something my mother would wear. That doesn’t stop me from buying lots of them! Last year the beloved husband made a 6 foot high cabinet to house my fabulous collection (of mostly orthopedic looking footwear). To be sure the cabinet was the correct size, I inventoried my “collection,” measured and sketched out what the cabinet dimensions would need to be.  Oops! Too big for my enormous walk-in closet! We could buy another house or…….

I settled on a cabinet for the “in-season” shoes which numbered fairly close to 70.  I would need to box and store the out-of-season treasures. Now keep in mind that, like most people, I only have two feet. If summer is from April until the end of September that is 183 days. Simple math says that I would only wear each pair 2.6 days. At that rate it would take me three decades to “wear out” a pair.

For comparison, my beloved husband has about four pair. Six, if you count his ratty gardening shoes. He actually has been known to wear out a pair and NEED to replace them.  Needing shoes isn’t in my vocabulary.  I just WANT them. Red ones (which never match anything because they are too orange or too blue), purple ones, the standards and of course the funky ones that are never comfortable.  Why is it that the most beautiful shoes hurt?  It must be written in a book somewhere!

I think I buy shoes to soothe myself after a hard day or maybe in place of a spa day. It always does the trick. My problem is not that I have too many pair; it’s that the year doesn’t have enough days!