In my hot little hands – or on my cold little toes, depending on your point of view – I now have two new pairs of shoes. Let the celebrations begin!

Sure, lots of people wouldn’t consider a woman buying new shoes celebration worthy, but those people have never had to go shoe shopping with me before.

I have tiny (but oddly wide) feet. Years ago, it was pretty easy to find a pair of size 5 wide shoes. They’d be a bit big, but I’d manage. Apparently it was next to impossible to find ladies size 10 at that time. Now the larger ladies shoes are everywhere I look and I have an easier time finding shoes to fit if I purchase them in the children’s department. I choose not to do so, as children’s shoes aren’t meant to last more than a few months before they fall apart and they’re definitely not designed with comfort, functionality and an adult work environment in mind.

Seriously, who wants to wear frilly pink shoes with ruffles and bows to the office or out to a bar?

I tend to search long and hard before finding shoes that will both fit and wear well. I also tend to pay through the nose for the privilege of putting anything other than sneakers on my feet. For example, Doc Marten’s (any style) are comfortable and can be worn day-in and day-out in all four seasons for over four years. This assumes I’m wearing them for approximately 300 of the 365 days in the year. I know this through extensive wear and tear testing. Unfortunately, in order to get a pair of Doc’s in my size I need to 1) travel to Britain to purchase them or 2) special order them in Canada. Unless my family is already en-route to Britain, I tend to choose option 2. Of course, option 2 comes with a pretty hefty price tag for a pair of shoes. Most companies charge more than double the normal price of the shoe in order to special import a single pair in a child’s size. Where an average person can purchase a pair of 3 button docs for $89 CAD, I’ve been charged between $175 – $250 CAD (per pair) to purchase a much smaller set of the shoes.

Considering how well they wear and how long they last, I don’t mind paying the price for the shoes. The problem is that I can’t go through life just wearing Doc’s. Occasionally grown-up events, such as weddings and fancy family events, intrude and I find myself in need of a pair of high heels.

I’s not enough to need silly women-type shoes – I also have style requirements when I’m shopping. Seeing as my middle name should be klutz the heels mustn’t be higher than an inch or I’ll end up killing myself. In addition, they can’t be strappy shoes or open toed shoes. I need something that’s going to fully support my foot or I may find myself being fitted for a cast. You laugh now, but that’s only because it’s funny when someone other than yourself is injured in stupid or senseless klutz type accidents. I’ve yet to meet someone else who has broken their foot by standing up after sitting on a couch!

To add to my shoe shopping horrors, I have two dogs. Both have chewed my shoes to shreds at some point in their lives. Most often they attack newly purchased shoes. Those that have barely made it into the safety of the closet for 72 hours seem most prone to being victimized. I have taken to hiding shoes from the dogs (one learned how to open the closet door) which of course means that I can’t find them anymore either.

Normally, shopping for dress shoes to fit is a multi-day experience in torture. Not only for the feet – shoved in and out of every small sized ladies dress shoe I can find – but for the hubby who was dragged from store-to-store and mall-to-mall while I shopped. I didn’t drive and the choice was to drag him along for the ride or risk not seeing him for days on end. In exchange for his dedication he gets to pick out shoes for me to try on. This sometimes results in my attempting to toddle around on 3-5 inch spiked heels or wrapped in thigh-high boots. *see above notes about being a klutz*

The last pair of shoes took 3 days to find and lasted less than a month before Hypnos got his pawns on them.

This past weekend while shopping for new slippers for dad, I managed to find 2 pair of shoes that not only fit, but were appropriate for all the girly things I may be called upon to do in the next few months. I walked in and out of the store, cuddling the new shoes close, in less than 45 minutes.

I am amazed. You should be too.

Technorati Tags: shoe shopping, Doc Marten’s

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.