Feet

I have tiny feet. Really, I have very tiny feet. I only fit into a size 5, if I'm lucky. My toes are short, my heel is pathetically narrow, and I have forever had trouble finding shoes that fit me. I often wish I could just go to a store, find a pair of shoes I like (I'm not that picky, honest!) try them on, and buy them. This never happens to me. I only ever get to the "trying them on" part while simultaneously pleading with my feet to make the shoes work, then realizing that no matter what I do, I will never, ever, ever be able to buy shoes again. Ever.



You can see how much I enjoy shoe shopping. (However, this says nothing for my desire to enjoy shoe shopping, or my feelings about shoes in general. I would really love to be able to enjoy buying cute shoes.)



I haven't ever bought shoes for Everett because we have been very fortunate with our hand-me-downs. This summer, however, he was in desperate need of some sort of sandal so his feet wouldn't be so hot and sweaty. Naturally I was excited to go shoe shopping for Everett, to be able to go to a store, pick out a pair of shoes, and Buy Them. Finally, I realized, I can project my shoe shopping desires onto my children, and thus enjoy this kind of shopping again.



I had this kind of sandal in mind for Everett: it's simple, brown, will go with everything, and he will definitely not wear socks with them. They can be dressed up or down and they look pretty comfortable.



Everett and I went to many stores and saw different versions of this shoe everywhere. We tried them all on his feet, and they were all too small. After many unsuccessful tryings-on, I realized what the problem was: Everett has chubby feet. I knew this. What I didn't realize was that they are so chubby on top that this kind of sandal simply isn't roomy enough for him. We had to settle for another version of the sandal; one with velcro every which way so we could customize the fit:

So here we are, mother and son, each having the opposite problem with footwear. Maybe someday we both will reach a happy medium and be able to find shoes easily. Until then, velcro it is.