Shoe Troubles

My daughter came home from school yesterday with her indoor shoes in her bag. She showed them to me, and told me that they were "finished" and she needed a new pair, stat. I checked them out, and yes, having a sole that's flapping is never good. I explained though that with dance classes that night, we'd have to wait on getting new shoes and that maybe she could bring one of her many OTHER pairs for her indoor shoes. The look she gave me certainly made me pause. You've surely all seen "the look." It's a mix of the "whachu talkin' bout Willis" and the "ach. You're almost making me sick with your stupidity!"

Apparently, her other shoes all have a variety of roles that do not allow them to fraternize with shoes at school. Some are for when she's dressed up, some are for outdoors only, some are only to wear for a short time and certainly not gym class, and some are just for fashion. She then pleasantly threw my own words back in my face, "Once your shoes are done, even though you may have loved them, the good news is, it's time for MORE shoes!!! We need to shop!"

Ruh Roh. I may have caused this shoe fetish and it's various delineations with my own shoe lust. I, too, could explain why certain shoes just cannot be worn except for their predetermined purpose. I could also then explain why my closet is so full of so many shoes. I don't think I've had to get rid of many though, so unlike my daughter, my collection just continues to grow.

I proceeded to tell her that we'd look for some new, proper runners on the weekend but for now, she'd have to wear her outdoor ones inside, and that it was okay to do so because it was winter after all and they weren't out and about getting muddy and gross. It seemed to satisfy her and she packed them into her bag for today.

In the middle of this shoe fiasco, my other daughter handed me all of her notes and such from her school agenda. It turns out that their school is working in conjunction with Soft Moc and Sole to Sole, collecting shoes to send to Haiti. Their school already had collected a hundred pairs, and were asking for more gently used shoe donations by Friday.

What perfect timing! Today, we searched our closets and our summer bins and we packed up at least ten pairs of shoes and sandals for donation. We talked about why we were donating our shoes, why people in Haiti would need shoe donations, and the wonderful feeling that comes with helping others in need.

As my husband put the bag in the trunk and my girls were preparing to leave the house, I realized that maybe the lesson had gone over my youngest's head. She proclaimed that she was so excited to be bringing all of these shoes to give away, and my heart soared. She then said, "And you know what Mommy? Since we gave all of those shoes away, now it means WE can get MORE!!"

Sigh.