Shoes and Snow

So anyone who knows me very well probably knows I have some issues with shoes. My sister Britta has the typical girl shoe fetish which I am lacking. Of course it helps that she has size 5 feet and so anything looks cute on her. I on the other hand have feet that nothing fits. Some of my worst memories as a kid involve trying to find shoes. It was never a one store or even one day process. I have wide feet but narrow heals, which they don't design shoes for. Plus I think I have claustrophobic toes, they don't like to be confined. This translates to other areas including the fact that I can't sleep in a sleeping bag if it is zipped up. My feet are also my thermostat and I need to be able to wiggle them out if I'm too hot and then pull them back in when my ideal temperature has been reached.

Enter my fondness for flip flops. In high school it started with my Kmart Birkenstock knockoffs. I'm pretty sure I wore them 98% of the time, even in the winter. And socks and any kind of sandals don't go together, just so you know. This did lead to some interesting experiences such as being at a dance at Springville High School and my friends and I all wanting to go home early. Of course this was before the days of cell phones and I don't remember if there wasn't a pay phone around, or if we just didn't have any money, but it was decided that we should walk up the hill behind the school to where my grandparents lived and call my dad to come pick us up early. For some reason we decided that it would be much quicker to walk across the football field even though there were a couple of inches of snow on it. And of course I was wearing my Birknocks, but trudging away we went.

I have matured since high school and now break out my one pair of closed toe shoes when there is fresh snow on the ground, but that is the only time I venture from the flip flops. I do have a few theories about sticking with the flip flops, besides the comfort of them. When it's raining flip flops are by far the best thing to be wearing, unless you want to wear rubber boots all day. Yes your feet get wet, but they dry much faster than shoes would. So you don't have to spend the rest of the day with wet shoes and socks. Same goes for it being cold outside. I feel like my shoes get cold and take a really long time to warm up, meaning my feet stay cold. Unlike wearing flip flops were my feet are cold if I’m outside for an extended period of time, but warm up very fast once going inside. Of course both of these points could have something to do with the fact that the one pair of shoes I own have several holes and cracks in them. I've been looking, trust me, but I just can't find a suitable replacement for the Super Girl shoes.

It seems that Will has followed in my fondness for being shoeless. I'm lucky if we get to the store before he has taken his shoes off in the car. And the first thing he does when we get home is take off his shoes. Of course he follows that immediately with his pants, which did not come from me. When my sisters and I were growing up we used to run around outside on the road to toughen up our feet at the beginning of the summer so we didn't have to wear shoes outside. Of course the down side to only wearing flip flops is that my feet are definitely not touchable soft, and usually look like I have been walking around without shoes on.

So I finally had to break out the Super Girls this week because of the snow, another reason I hate snow. On Tuesday I was dropping off Will at Pat's apartment. As we were walking up the steps he looked down at my feet and said, "Mommy, whose shoes are those? Are you wearing aunt Alex's shoes?" I guess he has noticed my preference too. On Wednesday my quirk also made an appearance at the work Christmas Party Jeopardy game. Sadly, because of the snow I was not holding very true to the statement and was not wearing my flip flops even though it was winter. It’s probably the one thing I get the most comments on, even from strangers. I don’t foresee this changing anytime soon, so here’s looking forward to more flip flop wearable days.