Shoe angst

(Disclaimer: yes, I do realize the following is a silly-@$$ first world issue.)

My name is Jane Ellen, and I loathe shopping.

Okay-- strictly speaking, that is not wholly accurate. I can enjoy browsing, when "aimlessly wandering without any real intent or need to pick out something specific" is the agenda. It's kind of like sightseeing that way, and can be fun.

But when it comes to procuring actual items that need to be purchased, I don't like it. I do not want to have to search hither and yon among crowds of other shoppers, spending fruitless hours picking out Just The Right Thing. It's frustrating and exhausting, and leaves me cranky and irritable.

Here's the thing: sometimes Shopping With Intent to Buy is unavoidable. I get that. When that happens I prefer to be a Woman on a Mission. Plan the work, work the plan-- get it over with and move on. Kind of like Caesar: Veni, Vidi, Vici (preferably on sale).

This is especially true if I need clothing, or God help us all, shoes. I detest shoe shopping. Current fashions don't usually suit what I'm looking for, and with my high arches nothing ever fits properly, and they're expensive, and things that are great on other folks end up looking strange on me, and how do you tell if they're going to be comfortable for the long haul since new shoes always feel weird anyway?

But the time does come when I have little choice in the matter. I'm going home for a wedding and a graduation next week, and the shoes I had that would have gone with the outfits for those occasions literally fell apart last fall.

So yesterday I bit the bullet, and went off (by myself-- it's better that way for all concerned) to look for shoes. And, after a minimum of tiresome searching I did find some. They were pricey, but a sale brought them down to merely mildly exhorbitant (I consoled my bank account by reminding it that we didn't pay retail, thereby upholding the Eleventh Commandment-- and at least I won't outgrow them in 3 months, like similarly priced sneakers for The Boy!).

And miracle of miracles, they actually fit! With arches and cushy insoles, and straps that don't rub in the wrong places... they make my feet content to be among them.


Almost worth the effort.