Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Shoes-day

I am the least qualified person I know to write a post on shoes. Cali, Grace, Ande—any one of them could post on footwear. They know the secret of finishing an outfit with a pair of shoes. Whether it’s red, burnt orange, bright yellow, zebra, floral or black heels or rhinestone sandals, their feet look beautiful—especially when their little painted toes peek out. When I see what a cute pair of shoes can do to an outfit my feet send an instant message to my brain, “Don’t even think about it. I won’t carry you one more foot if you do.” So I don’t have a cute new pair of shoes to share with you today, but thanks to Cali I do have a shoe story:

Last spring we were at Abe’s graduation banquet. I wore flat shoes, of course. Cali, Grace, Ande, and my sister, Rachel, were in stylish heels, of course. First we walked across the long, beautiful plain, then we stood and visited outside of Washington Hall for several minutes, finally we marched into the banquet hall to the band playing in the loft. The hundred and fifty year old building had no air conditioning and the air was warm and charged with enthusiasm. Everyone was in full-dress uniform or evening gowns and we stood talking to each other as everyone found their assigned tables. In short, the evening was festive and fine . . . and warm . . . and long-standing.

When we finally sat down to eat, Cali quietly took off her shoes. For two hours while we toasted, prayed, visited, ate, and listened to speeches of generals and dignitaries, Cali’s feet rested . . . and swelled in the heat. After the banquet, her feet would not go back in her shoes. It was the Cinderella step-sisters with the glass slipper scenario. No way, no how were her feet going back in those cute heels. So, Cali did the thing any good nurse would do and calmed the swelling. She stuck each foot in a pitcher of ice water from our dinner tables. She looked so cute sitting with her feet propped in two silver pitchers. We were the last ones to leave the banquet—it took that long for her feet to shrink to normal. It was the first time I’ve ever gotten to stay to the end of such an event.

9 comments:

Puhlman said...

I love shoes too. But I cannot put the together with an outfit to make it look 'right'. WHY? Well one reason is that I am not good like that and second....someone could definately use my shoe as a canoe. Darn them HUGE feet of mine....not even a shoe this big can be cute no matter what. OK....I have to be grateful. My father tells me to just be happy that they hold me up. And hold me up they do. :)

michelle said...

That IS a good shoe story! Hilarious.

I am still sad about not being able to wear all the cute shoes I wish I could...

Jill said...

Oh to have a picture of her soaking her feet in the ice water!

Deidra said...

On our flight home from Paris my feet swoll up and I was barely able to cram them back into my shoes. Painful and miserable! I think I could have used a couple pitchers of ice water, and not the moist towelette the flight attendants offered!

Derek-Jenny-Kaitlynd-Ethan-Dylan said...

Oh dear! Poor thing.

BUT that is so funny.

Cali said...

And while my feet soaked, I got to eat a large slice of humble pie. Turns out my mantra doesn't always stand, "Beauty is not ALWAYS worth it."

My self pride was also called into question. My original stance, "My feet NEVER swell... not even after working 12 hours on them. I'm going to place a bet I don't get swollen feet someday when I'm pregnant. My body’s much to efficient for that."

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that this was probably a fluke occurrence where God was quietly humbling me. It wasn’t that my body was inefficient at maintaining normal water distribution... I don't REALLY have a new found issue with swollen feet (wink).

Becky said...

Fantastic story!

I love a great pair of shoes...sigh.

Amie said...

So funny. I would have loved to see her feet soaking in the pitchers. I have only had my feet not want to go back in my shoes after an airplane ride.

I probably would have walked out barefoot, shoes in hand...

Kim Sue said...

great story and comment by Cali!