I like shoes!
A lot!
(Handbags too!)
(Handbags too!)
I am wondering if I need one of those "couches" where you talk about things.
When I was young, not sure exactly how old, shoes became very important to me. My parents went through some tough times in the 1940's and it really didn't get a lot better until the late to mid 1950's. By this time I was through high school and married.
My folks struggled. My father was a contractor and there was very little work.
No work often.
Sound familiar?
Sound familiar?
Black and white oxfords were huge in 1950 and my pair wore out. If I have told you this story..heavens.. just skip on past this.
Each day after school I would try to glue the sole of my shoes back in place..and with double thread, stitch it carefully back on. Then polish my shoes, making sure the polish was down in the edges covering the threads. Then I would let them dry and buff them until the shown with an old soft baby diaper that my mother always saved for rags.
They looked..okay. If anyone noticed..no one said anything.
By the end of the following day..I would "flap, flap" home once again. All day I would pray my shoe would last until I got off the bus. It was miserable.
And so...
my obsession with shoes began.
my obsession with shoes began.
A new pair of sweet leather summer sandals is just that to me. Sweet!
I used to want new shoes so badly that I remember once dreaming I had a new pair and it was so real that when I woke up, I actually looked under my bed expecting to see them. I was about 15 at the time.
I believe in Fairy Tales..still do.
Can't help it...just a fact.
Will I ever grow up...stop wearing toe rings and and coveting new shoes?
Probably not.
If it were going to happen..it would have happened before age ...77, don't you think?
*hanging head*
My seven little ones are all grown...and I made sure they had nice shoes and clothes.
Now it's my turn. :)
So many shoes, so little time!
My seven little ones are all grown...and I made sure they had nice shoes and clothes.
Now it's my turn. :)
So many shoes, so little time!
I would promise to one day grow up.. but I am beginning to lose hope.
I wonder if someone dropped me on my head when I was a babe? I've heard of such things..
:)
Oh...and handbags...love them too!
Love,
Mona
So...are they a bit....much? You can be honest. I'll understand.
*sigh*
I love them, the color is beautiful, I can understand why you have a passion for shoes, it doesn't hurt anyone so I say go for it!!I love hand bags too!!!
ReplyDeleteCute shoes, Mona. I am more obsessed with purses than shoes...as long as I have a comfortable pair of sandals, I am happy. I have a hard time passing up purses...and they have to be leather or Vera Bradley, yes, I am very picky!
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful week.
Your shoes and toe ring are not too much at all. They look fab. It is funny I have a love of shoes as well. Always have,,,, 4 inch heels when young... Not now.
ReplyDeleteBig Hugs Kay
Oh I love your sandels, they look wonderful. I love shoes too and I also like purses. I have some really great ones, but I am always temped to look at more. I think you are totally grown up, just great taste.
ReplyDeleteI like your sassy looking sandals and your toe rings.
ReplyDeleteYou look like a California kind of gal . . .
Grab your favorite handbag and you're ready to do some shopping . . . or lunch with PH or meet up with a blogger friend. Sounds fun to me . . . where should we meet?
I love your new shoes and the toe rings are so cute...don't ever change, Mona....we love you just the way you are...shoe fetish and all..lol! Hugs, Penny
ReplyDeleteI love the sandals...and the toe rings. I've always thought you to be very stylish, Mona. Stay that way!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it's true that we try to make up for what we lacked in our childhood. We weren't poor but there were seven of us kids and my father worked two jobs. But we always seemed okay. Nothing handed to us, but nothing fancy. And now, I love to shop and I spoil my children. Hmmmmm...maybe I need the "couch"!
XO,
Jane
You sweet thing---you deserve every pretty and charming and fun thing you ever wish for! And please---take MY share of shoes and handbags. At least most of it, for I haven't carried a purse in years, save for one that was a gift, and that only when I'M driving, for all my IDs and DL and keys and stuff are too much for my pockets.
ReplyDeleteAnd I own maybe six pairs of shoes---two of those, which I wear EVERY day, everywhere that suits me, are bright rubber clogs---a pink pair and a red pair. Just didn't get the shoe-craving a girl should have, I guess. I think my whole shopping gene got left out at birth, for if not for Lane Bryant catalog, I wouldn't have a rag to my name. Just the word "Mall" makes me feel the same sense of boredom as a lecture on tectonic plates or a Picasso painting---just ain't my thing.
I DO, however, have a story stored up that I've been meaning to write---not one of my usual bland everybody's sweet ones, but of a real young man---maybe fourteen, who came riding up outside my window at work in a pair of Men's dress shoes sizes too big, and when he stopped his rattly old bike, a huge flap of sole fell down, from toe to where the heel was attached.
And when he got back on to leave, I heard the smack as he flipped his foot up so it would flip up to step onto the pedal. It was so practiced, so accepted, so much a rote motion, that I knew he'd been wearing that one pair for a long time.
That one little moment has been in my heart for perhaps thirty years. And so I wish you'd had the shoes of your dreams, and we're both double-glad that we were able to provide the things our children needed. We wouldn't swap that feeling for Jimmy Choo's whole dynasty.
love and,
rachel
Hey you are the fashionista!! They look great and keep the toe rings :) Hugs
ReplyDeleteThat was such a poignant post, Mona. I hope you enjoy every pretty pair of shoes you find!
ReplyDeleteI have followed your blog again, for the second time. I followed before, but recently, when I wasn't getting notice of your posts checked to see what was going on........and there are all the posts I've missed!
i think at age 77, you should do any damn thing you want!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Mona, I remember my Mom telling me that shoes was the best part of your dressing. You could have a beautiful dress but if you did not have nice shoes, all polished, you were not dressed. Shoes was very impoortant to her.
ReplyDeleteLove your story, I sure need to get back on my blog as well.
Hugs from Florida
Barbara
I have a sock fetish, but I will tell you, I think I have a shoe fetish as well - not so much with the sandals, as I climb rocky hills and vales, but hiking boots and solid footwear, dress shoes, sporty shoes and then girly shoes for dress occasions. ha,ha
ReplyDeleteAre you only 77 - that is the new 66, and as far as your toe rings go, hey! - as we say in the Maritimes - "Whatever Floats Yer Boat". ha,ha I think PH will like that line. Purses, handbags - I only have 8 or 9, but fall in love easily with something new. You do not have to grow up dear Mona, because if you do, your originality will be lost and that is a big part of why we love you so much.So, grab all the shoes you can, enjoy them and throw a few handbags in as well. WE only go through this life once and we may as well enjoy our "fun things", eh. You might invest in a new pair of hiking boots that one could stand or walk for hours for PH, for I bet his feet get sore marching up and down in that back yard of yours with the mirror. We love the sunshine he has cast into the Maritimes, so he deserves high quality footwear. ha,ha Have a wonderful day.
Love your new shoes. The color is great and your toe rings are delightful.
ReplyDeleteFlowerLady
Hi Mona,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you came by for a visit. I have been thinking of you.
I love your new shoes! And i say go for it!! Having that many children means you deserve your turn now.
Plus all this stuff is keeping you young!
My poor Mom is your age and she is not doing too well right now. Parkinson' is a really nasty disease. My son and dil and grandbaby are here visiting now and I am so excited. It's been since January when I saw them last.
Take care and we will keep in touch,
Cindy
Hi Mona,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you came by for a visit. I have been thinking of you.
I love your new shoes! And i say go for it!! Having that many children means you deserve your turn now.
Plus all this stuff is keeping you young!
My poor Mom is your age and she is not doing too well right now. Parkinson' is a really nasty disease. My son and dil and grandbaby are here visiting now and I am so excited. It's been since January when I saw them last.
Take care and we will keep in touch,
Cindy
Oh my goodness Mona, those sandels are darling. I LOVE shoes...especially heels. I have thought about writing a blog post about loving them too, but your post was the best. Your story of how you overcame during the hard time is so very touching. Love, Rachel
ReplyDeleteMona I love your new sandals and the toe rings are beautiful. Why would you ever want to grow up? From what I have seen, it's highly over rated. There is a group of people called THEY. Now I have never met them or even seen pictures, but these folks seem to have very strong opinions on most everything and for some reasons these opinions have become like a chapter out of Emily Post.(age clue). They say this or they say that. Well I say heck with all the rules, dress and be exactly like you want to be. Unless you are a THEY person, they result will be true and beautiful just like you new sandals, you lovely home and your great sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteSherry
I have always loved shoes, too. I think your sandals are cute as can be!
ReplyDeleteAll women love shoes and handbags. I love your sandals. Have a blessed day. Madeline
ReplyDeleteYou don't need a couch, you have us! LOL!
ReplyDeleteThis was just a wonderful story. You were such a tenacious teen to be fixing your shoes every other day. I can only imagine the anxiety. I remember having holes in my sneakers and it was terribly embarrassing to have to wear them to school.
I have a dear friend who has a pantry full of cereal...boxes and boxes of cereal. She'll never be able to eat her way through it all. The background story is that she went hungry a lot in childhood and she would dream of eating a bowl of cereal. I suppose that pantry full of the stuff eases a lot of her anxiety.
i love the shoes and i say do what you want to do when you want to.. enjoy the shoes and the purses... when we have lived this long we deserve what makes us happy... i had the same childhood you did and i did so hate my saddle oxfords....at age 18 i got a job and spent have my weeks pay every week on a new pair of shoes.. drove mother crazy.. but i dont do that any more..
ReplyDeleteJust wrote a post about something i covet....plants :)
ReplyDeleteWhere's that couch??
Balisha
I think everyone has something that makes them happy to "have it". You were like us when we were kids. We only had one pair of school shoes (and sneakers for gym class). That was the norm...but I am sorry that yours were in such rough shape and you had to deal with the shame of that all.
ReplyDeleteMy "thing" from my childhood is that my mother was a messy housekeeper and I am constantly picking things up and putting them away...sometimes before the person is done with it. lol The joke is that if you get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom I will make the bed before you get back. lol We each carry our own connection to our past, don't we? xo Diana
Mona I think we all all "collectors" of one sort or the other. Most women have a shoe fetish but I don't think it's a problem. Handbags, you can have them all. They hurt my shoulder! I carry as little as possible with me and that in itself is strange to most women who would never be without a purse crammed with all their essentials. Love those cute little shoes!!!
ReplyDeleteDear Jean...You are right, about the shoes I mean. The handbags...I love them but they are NOT stuffed to the gills. Not at all. A wallet, checkbook (which I hardly ever use anymore) a comb or brush if I am going to be gone for a long time..lipstick..a few bobby pins because I wear my hair up on my head and it slips out of the pins at the drop of a hat! But usually it's just the bare essentials. Kleenex..gotta have kleenex! :)
ReplyDeleteanything that makes us happy, is never, never, never too much!!!! "the olden one" has spoken!!!! ,-)
ReplyDeletei can certainly see why you so wish to provide yourself with petty shoes. of course, your parents would have,if times were not so tough. but that little girl inside you, still craves shoes.
give 'em to her!!!!!!!! :-)))))
oh and handbags too!!!!!
and grow up???? just what is growing up, anyway????? if it's loosing fun, or getting all "jaded" and pessimistic, or not noticing the magical moments, or etc.... well then, who want to grow up????
not me!!!!
hugs to you, my dear!
tessa~
I loved this post. When I moved to CA, I must have had 50 pair of shoes and now I have such bad feet about all I can wear are thongs, but I still love looking at all the beautiful shoes.
ReplyDeleteNow that I am older purse's and shoes are not high on my list. However, I do like a good leather purse. My son travels to China a lot with his job, so he is always buying me lots of designer purses.
My latest is a Jimmy Choo.
Take care my friend. Have a great weekend.
Mary
Your sandals looks very good. It is good for summer. You have played a difficult role in your childhood, so it is nice to enjoy now!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteyou have a very big family ma'am... really you are very lucky... god bless u all....
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you have a very big family ma'am... really you are very lucky... god bless u all....
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