Uniquely Me: May 2012

As you know, I occasionally jump in on Wordfull Wednesdays from Cocoa. I'm still fuzzy on the "rules" or etiquette of it, so I'm not sure exactly how it works other than Cocoa throws out a topic for the blogworld and you share your thoughts, meanderings, etc. I only remember its Wordfull Wednesdays because my sister, Meg, participates. When I saw the topic for today, I obvious had to be part of it. I mean, let's be honest. If you know me, you know shoes are my "thang." I could safely estimate I own 50+ pair. In order to keep my closet somewhat cleaned up, I have a semi-annual shoe "sale" at my house lol That's the fancy way of saying that I clean out my shoes and let my nieces lay claim to my gently used, but beloved shoes.

Shoes are an interesting thing for me. I LOVE them. However, I actually prefer to go barefoot! So I suppose I figure if I have to wear shoes out in public, I should atleast have cute ones. I've got anything from Local flipflops to four-inch Franco Sartos. (mmmm, I love me some Franco.) I've advised my nieces to never pay full price for shoes. You can always find a good sale and that's a rule I live by. I must have wanted a pair of shoes really, really badly if I paid full price for them and I can't remember the last time I did that!

As I was reading Meg's post about her shoes, some of her memories made me giggle. For example, tromping home from elementary school in the snow in clogs and purposefully trying to make the snow stick so you felt taller. I remember wanted a pair of black cloth baby doll shoes so bad I could cry. I remember buying my first pair of high top Reeboks and wearing them with scrunchy socks and thinking I had really made it in the foot wear style world.

In more recent years, due to issues with my feet like bunions and neuromas and cysts, I've had to make wiser choices in my shoes. I can no longer wear my beloved, studded, Francos for a night on the town because I can't walk in them for longer than about two hours before I start to limp. My zebra print heels, as well as my sassy red heels are reserved for church where I know I'll be sitting most of the time. It makes me sad and I feel like my shoes are lonely without me! Or is that the other way around...?

Anyway, all my love for my shoes can not replace the love of these.

Meet my cowboy boots. They are well loved. They are well used. They have seen many hours at rodeos and agricultural colleges. They have been country dancing. They have been on dates. They've been used for costumes and spirit weeks. They are my favorite shoes.

It was during my second year of college in a small town when I decided I HAD to have boots. If I was going to be around cowboys and date cowboys and like cowboys, I was going to need boots. It was the only thing I asked for that year for Christmas. I had them picked out and sized and pretty much told Santa all he needed to do was pick them up. They were, if I remember correctly, $80.00. This was 20 years ago so that was pretty steep for a pair of boots. Lucky for me, I opened them up Christmas morning and immediately began wearing them everywhere. Love at first fit!

It wasn't until some time later that my sister told me how close I came to NOT getting my boots that year. In true form, my "Santa" dad went all out to make it happen because he knew how badly I wanted them. As I mentioned, that was 20 years ago. My feet barely fit into them at this point. They need some serious attention on the inside. 99% of the time they sit on the floor of my closet gathering dust. However, they are not ignored or forgotten. Every time I see them, I remember what went into the giving of them and I can't stand the thought of parting with them.