October 3, 2007

What Did You Give Up?





Blurry old feet in the world’s most comfortable thrift store sandals plus pressure stockings. 2006.




You know her. I’ve mentioned her before. This morning Ronni Bennett hit me in the familiar bone, and I wanted to share her today’s blog with you. She asks, “What have you stopped doing in your old age?”

Some items on her list I still do. I hurry for instance. Some items I gave up long ago for a different reason….little music here because of my tintinitus. Some of my things aren’t on her list….I don’t drive at night any more because I have multiple vision. Which one of those six sets of tail lights do you want me to hit?

So I was reading and nodding, and agreeing, until she mentioned shoes when my light bulb went off. A few years ago, I bought a pair of black, patent leather, DKNY three inch heels at Nordie’s Rack…on sale, mind you, and in size 11. At an astronomical price too. Even then I didn’t have much padding on my feet, and I knew when I bought these stunning shoes that these would be my last pair of 3 inch heels.

I’ve never been a beauty. In fact, I always thought of myself as an ugly duckling. But my legs were good. Long too. Add a pair of 3 inch heels, and I towered well over six feet in my vanity. I knew my hips were wide and my nose a ball on my face and that my stomach proceeded me, but those long legs were my attention getter every single time. They still looked good well into my fifties actually.

In 2000, after a year of surgery to remove planters warts I finally became aware that heels of any sort didn’t make it any more. After bypass surgery, I found out that you have to have blood flow to keep the fat pad on the bottom of a foot. Soft squishy shoes were now number one on my list of life’s happiest moments. Pain free feet was my number one focus in life. And as my feet grew less padded, their dimensions began to intrude on my reality. I used to wear a size 8 ½. Slowly over the years the size and widths expanded until one day I found myself buying a size 11. Shoes that fit my requirements weren’t just hard to find, they were impossible to find.

Yes, lower cost size elevens do exist, but not comfortable ones. You can even buy size elevens at Target…….but, boy do they hurt, or create blisters, or, or or……. So you gotta have happy feet. Mid priced size eleven shoes exist too. Some actually fit and are comfortable too if there are any in the store. The search for a comfortable pair of shoes at a price that an old, obese security guard, aren’t we all, can afford is continuous. If you find a pair, you buy them. Your wardrobe is styled around your shoes.

Every one of us is always on the lookout for stylish black size elevens. Someone else usually bought them just as you were rounding the isle into the size elevens at the Rack. I’m the new owner of purple, suede, pointy toed flats just because they were comfortable. Then I bought a sweater to match just so I could wear them. You buy sandals without backs so you can wear tens, or even nine and a half with your heel hanging out the back. Start a new style with that. And life ends up being a shoe adventure.

Now there I am with my long pants hiding my pressure stockings and my sensible shoes on my growing feet. Have I become that little old lady who used to live next door? Not me. I’m the big woman who lost her voice yelling at drunks and food service workers at the last ball game while wearing her sensible shoes. I only swore once. It’s much more fun than sitting home and rocking in your porch swing, let me tell you.

So what have you given up lately?



Me: Better. Managing all my exercises too.

G: Working a half day then taking Duck to the Derm Man. Let’s solve these itchies once and for all.

Duck: One evening LVN, who is an absolute grump, gets his lotion on his itchies, and they look wonderful just in time for his consult with the Derm guy.

1 comment:

  1. Feet and shoes are one of my biggest problems. I found that shoe manufacturer does make a difference. The one I love the most is ECCO. They're expensive but I found the answer to that at DSW (designer shoe warehouse) where I found a gold pair (I would never have chosen them for their look) of sneaker style I wore all summer. Because they were clearance on a clearance I got them for about $30, down from the original $100-something. Comfortable shoes are out there, and they're affordable--just hard to find!

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