From Heels to Flats

I’ve been addicted to shoes since I can remember.  My mother says that even at the age of two when she would take me grocery shopping, we had to stop at the Italian leather shoe store next door or else a temper tantrum would ensue.    She says that I loved to touch the shoes.  I would caress and feel the leather; I would even pick them up to smell them.  She said I looked like I was in heaven.  

My father loved shoes as well.  My mother would send him off to the grocery store and he would return with the items and a pair of  leather dress shoes for himself…EVERY SINGLE TIME.   So I come by it honestly.  Its in my DNA.

I have 250+ pairs of shoes.  In my twenties and early thirties I was like Victoria Beckham, I didn’t leave my house without heels on, usually they were 5 inches.  I worked 12 hour days in them.  I danced in them.  I went grocery shopping in them.  I even wore 5 inch heels until I was 6 months pregnant.  They made me feel tall and proud.  Even though I have struggled with body image all of my life, I love my feet.  No matter what your size you are, your feet in beautiful and unique  pair of shoes stand out before your flaws.   Almost everyone can appreciate a good pair of sexy heels. 

Shoes are my therapy.   When I shop for them, when I wear them and when I plan an outfit around them, they make me happy.  I may have a slight problem but who I am hurting really?  I contribute to the economy and pay for them myself…  AND that’s the only rebuttal I have to that debate.   LOL

Now that Ms. RA has decided to make a lifelong visit, heels have become flats.  Well THANK THE LAWD!   flats have become cute.   When I had to buy Birkenstock’s to replace those heels at 6 months pregnant,   I cried like a baby!  In my opinion “Birks were ugly and nasty and only old people with fucked up feet wore them”.   Now I have 8 pairs.   LMAO! 

 I still wear heels to this day.  I’m not supposed to.   The RA has destroyed my ankles and feet but I told my Rheumy “if you take away my heels then you have destroyed my soul”.  I know… dramatic right?    I don’t care.  Shoes are how I express myself.   I am not creative.  I don’t do art.   I don’t paint.   I wear fashion… and my fashion starts with what I put on my feet.  AND So Rheumy and I compromised.  I only wear 3 inches now 2x a week.  I travel with usually 2 to 3 different pairs of shoes to change into cause let’s be honest…. RA has screwed up my joints so bad that no shoe in this world is going to feel comfy for long…

Recently I met my girls to go shopping knowing full well that walking around a mall for hours was going to damn near kill me.   I almost cancelled but my hubby said I needed to go.  Not only for the retail therapy but for the jokes and silliness my girlfriends and I share.   So I went and we walked nonstop for 4 hours.  I even had to go back and grab a pair of heels that called my name repeatedly after I left the store.   Once we sat down for dinner my body was screaming but I just muffled it with a very large Cocktail…

I have RA but I went anyway.  I have RA and I wear heels anyway.  I have RA but I am ME anyway.  Be you… not your disease.