Boots...

These have got to be my favorite boots of all time. They are tall granny-style boots...with a slim enough top to fit under my jeans and a high enough heel to make my small-ish feet look even smaller. I'll admit, I really like my feet in heels...it's a terrible pride issue, I'm sure. I mean I've never fallen over because I was too busy looking at my feet to notice my surroundings or anything...but still.



And they have the laces that I've loved my whole life. The laces that I'm positive that Laura Ingalls tied up on her boots...the laces that countless Victorian women laced throughout that age...the laces that just take you back to another place, where Nike and Sketchers simply don't exist and would have been considered too clunky to be beautiful.

Anyway, I bought these boots when I was about 10 weeks pregnant (give or take a couple) with Monkey-Face, so that is pushing 4 and some years ago. I got to wear them well into my pregnancy...probably 30 weeks or so...and then, as always happens, my center of gravity was off and high heels were a little too treacherous. As I was absolutely going to fall, Bubba thought it best I didn't fall from the terrifying heights of my favorite boots, so I put them away until a couple of months after the birth.

Something life-changing happened with the birth of my third child. I'm not speaking of being blessed with a little life that would end up giving me great, abounding, joy...no, this was BIGGER than that. For the first time in my life, my third pregnancy CHANGED MY FOOT SIZE!!

It had never happened before...I'd been between a 6 1/2 and a 7 until just after I was married...and then something happened with the sizes in the stores because all of a sudden I couldn't buy anything smaller than a 7 and a 7 1/2. I'm pretty sure it happened at the stores because ALL my shoes still fit me...even my 6 1/2 wedding pumps that I hadn't worn since that day (who wears shiny white satin shoes with beads EVER, other than under her wedding dress).

So imagine my surprise when, after 11 years and two other children, my feet truly changed sizes. As in NONE of my shoes fit me...not even my very favorite boots!!! But get this...while I'm not a 7 1/2 REALLY anymore...I'm also NOT QUITE a size 8. That's right...it's almost impossible for me to buy shoes. I pretty much LIVE in tennis shoes, slippers and sandals...oh and I do have a wonderful pair of black boots that are reminiscent of the 80s and they fit pretty well now that they are getting old and sad.

Now and then I scrunch my feet into these boots...with the thinnest socks possible...but I'm always sorry.

I guess I'll have to save them for her for the next few years. She looks like someone who could love them as much as I did.




See you around...