Shoes and I have a complicated relationship. It all started when I was 8-years-old and an older cousin named Patsy spent the night at our house. Patsy was in high school; blonde hair, blue eyes and best of all, she wore white penny loafers. Those white loafers were extra sparkly because she put dimes in the penny slot of the shoes! I thought those shoes were the most beautiful things in the world and I really really really wanted a pair.
My father also had a complicated relationship with shoes. His began when he was in the army during World War II. During basic training, the men were required to hike 30 miles carrying a 50-pound pack. After that trek, daddy’s feet swelled and both his arches fell, all of which caused foot pain for the rest of his life. Daddy was determined that his daughters would not have these problems.
To add to his worries, I was pigeon-toed; my feet turned inward as I walked. Daddy decided leather, lace-up oxford saddle shoes were the answer and when Patsy came for her visit, sister Judy and I had been wearing those types of shoes for years.
Once I saw Patsy’s shoes, I noticed how ugly my shoes were. Unfortunately, my shoes were in perfectly good shape and on a schoolteacher’s salary there was no such thing as buying another pair of shoes just cause your daughter fell in love with her cousin’s shoes.
All hope was not lost, however, because one night on my way to bed, I stepped on one of the metal rods on my potholder loom. The rod went straight through my little toe. I was in hysterics, but daddy pulled out the rod and cleaned and bandaged my toe. Immediately my foot started to swell. I had school the next day and my shoe wasn’t going to fit for quite a while, so daddy cut out the part of the shoe that touched the swollen parts of my foot. As dreadful as the whole thing was, I realized opportunity had come knocking at my door.
“Daddy? When my foot gets better, can I then have a pair of penny loafers like Patsy’s?” Daddy answered, “Honey, if you will stop turning your feet in, you may have a pair of loafers.” Turns out opportunity works both ways. From that moment until my foot healed, I made sure I turned my feet out and after a few weeks I got some loafers.
Daddy and I both won and unless I am tired, my feet continue to turn in the right direction.
About the first 10 years I taught school, my idea of professional dress included occasionally wearing heels or high heel boots. They were a painful occasional necessity. Eventually I stopped wearing heels to school, realizing I could dress professionally without them and come home with less fatigue and pain. I didn’t need an extra 3-4 inches to look authoritative, besides which heels that high made me an unimpressive 5-4 or, at the very best, 5-5. Not. Worth. It.
The Indigenous people have a saying “Walk a mile in my moccasins” while fabled actor Marilyn Monroe said, “Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world.” After my shoe journey I say to all those who give such sage shoe advice, “Only if it’s comfortable dear, only if it’s comfortable.”
Cindy Arp, teacher/librarian, retired from Knox County Schools. She and husband Dan live in Heiskell.