So anyone who knows me, knows that my toes are rarely hidden – willingly. It can be freezing outside and you will still find me in sandals. That is just how I roll. My feet are happy and I am happy.
I do not like having my feet stuck in stuffy shoes. Period. Even worse than stuffy shoes, however, are socks! Who thought of those horrible things? They make my feet feel funny. My skin…I literally want to crawl out of my skin. I am not kidding. It is not funny either.
So there is a deep dark secret about me. I do not like stuffy shoes or stuffy socks. My feet cry and scream when they have to get in them.
Alas, I must confess that there are some things that are a must. Even stuffy shoes and miserable socks. I am realistic after all. I am even reasonable.
1. The rule is no tennis shoes, no bicycle riding. Period. We do not need to have the discussion. There is no budging. It is not negotiable. There are no refunds and no you may not exchange it. I will make minor exceptions for good sturdy shoes like hiking boots but shoes must be closed toe and closed heal.
2. For me, a tennis shoe must have a sock in it. There is just something about a good sturdy tennis shoe and how it feels. A sock is required. As much as I despise socks. I despise the feeling of the inside of my tennis shoes even more. I am not talking canvas, dinky knock off want to be tennis shoes, I am talking real tennis shoes (running, cross trainers, etc). We will not even go anywhere near the smell that can happen sans socks (with socks too but especially without).
3. Good sturdy and comfortable tennis shoes are essential, needed, and do make all the difference.
So here I was driving the boys to karate this evening and as my foot did not glide across the gas and brake pedals as usual, I remembered that I was still wearing my tennis shoes. What?!. It couldn’t be. How is it possible? Here is me, the stuffy shoe and sock hater and I still had my shoes and socks on nearly twelve hours after putting them on? Did I fall and hit my head? Did the hemispheres shift? We are talking nothing small of a miracle here.
I put them on at 7:30AM to ride with Lance on the bicycle this morning. I left to take the kids to karate about 6:00PM. Normally, I am pealing out of them as soon as I return to the house from my roughly 3.6 mile bike ride (round trip). I just got busy and distracted and just kept going and going and going.
So I just kept going, removing my shoes around 8:45PM. Not normal for me at all. The good news is since I was on my feet a good chunk of the time, I did not notice and neither did my back or legs.
I am just impressed that the shoes were comfortable enough that I did not care! That’s a sign of a good pair of shoes in my opinion. Of course, many thanks going out to my husband tonight for insisting I go splurge and purchase them last October. They have been worth the money since then even if my skeptical mind wasn’t so willing. They paid for themselves in London alone, but just times like today I realize that it did make a difference in my overall outlook on stuffy shoes and socks. Will they become my regular shoe of choice? You better not count on it. I wear them because I ride the bike and there is also a considerable walk involved in the afternoon portion thanks to the attempts of the school “representatives” looking out for everyone on the quarter mile long sidewalk back to the neighborhood entrance. That, however, is a gripe/story for another day.
Right now, I am truly grateful for my COMFORTABLE and clearly great pair of shoes. May we have a great many more miles together…
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