FashBlog.com

By Christina VanGinkel

I hate shoe shopping! There, I have said it and I feel much better. Along with the upcoming holidays, comes dinners out and parties to attend. In order for someone like me, (who lives the majority of her time squirreled away at home, typing and writing, because that is what I am most comfortable doing, or trekking through the woods after my dogs), to head out to these functions looking respectable, I need to purchase a pair of shoes to wear. I actually bought a pair last year, after wearing another pair for several years in a row. I intended to wear the pair I bought last year for at least the next year or two, but I barely made it through one evening with them last year. They have a small heal, which I like, and they just slip on, which I also like, but for some reason that I cannot fathom, I cannot walk further than two steps in them without feeling as if I am going to step out of them.

Just as I was dreading another shopping trip for a pair of shoes to wear to this years events, my daughter brought me an early Christmas present last night. She bought me a pair of low boots, in black, that slip on, with a bit of a slit on one side of each boot, where they have conveniently put in a piece of stretchy material. I would have never even given these boots the time of day if I had been the one shopping. Even when she handed them to me, I was a bit taken back when I first opened the box. I tried to be nice, but she knew I thought they looked, well, different. The toe of the boot is rounded, which I like, but my eyes kept going towards the elastic in the top. Smart person that she is, she told me to try them on before I made any assumption of whether I liked them or not.

Well, I tried them on, sure, that I would absolutely hate them, but I actually liked them, a lot, once I had them on. They look good enough to wear with a pair of black, slinky dress pants, or stylish enough to go with a pair of my jeans. They have a tiny bit of heal, which is nice with me being only five feet, two inches tall, yet they do not slip like a regular pair of shoes with heels, seem to always do to me.

Most importantly, I learned a lesson. Not to just pass by a pair of shoes when shopping because I assume they look different, or funny. When I asked my daughter how she picked these out for me, she said they just seemed to be a good match for all the things I have complained about through the years. They would be comfortable, they would be easy to slip on and off, they had a bit of heel, and they were black, my one requisite whenever I am picking out a pair of dress shoes, as that way they will match just about anything I might have in my closet. At least someone was listening, even if it wasn't I!