Shoe shopping

Very sadly the time has come. I have been living in LV for two years and seven months. I walk almost everywhere I go. My shoes have started dieing. I can no longer put off the need to buy new shoes.

In the first week of school, two of my long-faithful pairs of shoes broke. Working in grade two, the kids let you know that kind of stuff. I had just finished giving some long-winded explanation, asked "any questions?" and get, "Mrs. Diana, when are you going to buy new shoes? Because yours are broken on the bottom." There is no escaping, no trying to hide it......I only have one suitable pair of shoes for work at the moment. Hmph.

As many of you near and dear to me know, I have not had the best of luck in the shoe department here in LV. The first experience was in trying to find a suitable pair of black boots. Let's just say that the email I wrote about that shoe shopping experience made the black boots I did buy infamous with my friends and family back in the States. When I had flown back for my grandmother's funeral, the second words out of everyone's mouth, after condolences, were, "Are those the boots?"

My second shoe shopping experience in LV ended up with a pair of sandals that literally broke within the first five mintues of me wearing them and two months of jumping through hoops and more ridiculous stories before getting my money back.

So yesterday, KB finally threw me in the car and said he was taking me shoe shopping. Yes, yes, I think we both realize in hindsight that was a pretty nutty thing to assume that this would actually be productive for us to do together. My attempt at shoe shopping with my new husband looked something like this:

KB: "These are nice shoes." Me, thinking, could you possible pick a more horrific pair?? (Answer: of course, yes, because you haven't seen anything until you've seen shoe choices in LV.) After a few attempts of this, Me: "Why don't you go and look at your men's shoes?" KB: "Fine, I'll just go the electronics store." Me, calling him on the phone a few minutes later: "I don't want you so close but I don't want you so far away. What if I find a pair I need your opinion on?" KB meets me at the next shoe store and obediently looks at men's shoes until I find two pair I need an opinion on. KB's opinion: "They look like grandma shoes." Me: "Ok, it's time to go home now, I'll try this again on my own later this week."

MP, I miss you!!! I need your opinion on shoes!!!!

Later in the evening, I uncovered more of my trauma about shoe shopping. As a child I had extraordinarily narrow feet, which meant I could only shop at one children's shoe store and had about two options in that store. I never got to get anything I liked. To top that one off I also had flat feet. So in kindergarten I had to spend the year wearing brown orthopedic shoes. All of this has led to shoe shopping leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I remember the year I agreed to buy a pair of shoes (sometime in elementary school) which I hated, just to be able to stop shopping for shoes. I had to wear them the whole year and it was horrible. Most men would probably appreciate a wife who is not obsessed with shoe shopping. That's fine. Until it comes to the point when all your shoes are broken. I don't know, I just may be barefoot this winter....