August 30th, 2010
The Perfect Pair of Shoes
Normally this blog is used to showcase my knowledge of public relations, but my quarter life crisis has required so much of my attention that I find it necessary to share my experience with those who frequent this blog. I can’t imagine that it’s anyone other than my close friends and colleagues, but whatever I need to vent….publicly.
Recently, a “friend” told me he’ll be accepting a new job and moving to another state soon. The news crippled me. I learned about this move and then attempted to have dinner with myself like every other woman who’s trying to find herself does. I couldn’t sit in the restaurant to eat, nor could I sit and wait for take out to be prepared. Yep! I admit, I lost it. Completely. I sat at the bar in P.F. Changs and cried. Completely embarrassed and feeling like I had taken a million steps backwards, away from becoming the stronger, emotionally self sufficient woman I’d like to be, I reached out to my boss(because we’re cool like that).
At lunch she said this…(in a nutshell)
As a kid, when my mom would take me shoe shopping I would always want to get the first pair I tried on because at some point in life, my mom said “If you can’t pick one, you won’t get any”…so I was afraid that if I didn’t choose the first ones I tried on, I wouldn’t get a pair at all. For some reason, that’s how many women view men. We’re often afraid to let one go because we think, if we do, we won’t have the opportunity to have one again. But you have to remember that there’s a perfect pair of shoes for everyone, but sometimes you have to try on several pair before you find the one pair that fits perfectly! And also remember that your mom never took you to get a new pair of shoes until you outgrew the ones you had.
Mind you, I am super emotional at this point in my life so after hearing this my tear ducts were on overload and I was literally about to have another P.F. Changs moment. She’s absolutely right.
Finding the perfect shoe takes time and experience. I gained experience from buying a few pairs that caused a tremendous amount of pain (Nine West…but that’s another blog post for another day). Now, I never leave the store without trying on a few pairs to see how they fit, to see which ones are the most comfortable, which pair is the best. Sometimes I buy a pair and wear them until the taps fall off or wear them so much, they stretch and don’t fit as well as they did when I bought them. I’ve even wanted a shoe so bad that I’ve gotten blisters from purchasing and wearing an 8.5 because there weren’t anymore size 9s in the back.
So yeah, when I think about it, I’ve tried on lots of shoes and dated a few guys. I’ve always tried to make things work because I was afraid that if I didn’t, I’d end up with nothing. I can count my experience with this guy as another experience learned from trying to squeeze my foot into a shoe that’s too small. Because of this, my feet (I) have blisters, calluses and corns (not really), but I’m headed to the spa for a pedicure. After that, I’m headed to the mall. But this time I’m looking for THE pair… they’ll be cute, they’ll fit and they’ll last forever. Let’s face it…I’m looking for Jimmy Choos
Thanks Brad! I’m dusting myself off. He won’t knock me out of the shoe store that easily.





