Shoe-vo-lution

Once upon a time, I wore really sexy-HAWT, CFM shoes...it was my claim to fame that I could wear 4", spike-heel, ho-shoes anywhere, and I did.

My first "real" job out of college was at a (now defunct) little "hotel" called The Torrey Pines Inn. It was a little shithole, overpriced motel, that was ideally situated on the gorgeous Torrey Pines Golf Course, so the owner could charge an arm and a leg for a really awful, run-down room, with a completely gorgeous view. Now there's a 5-star beautiful (but probably still overpriced...I mean, I know I can't afford to stay) hotel there, but the first place was really awful.

I was the General Manager's "administrative assistant" (glorified secretary). He was an ass, but I had to take the job because I discovered that getting a job in journalism wasn't going to be easy, and I had bills to pay. The property covered about 5 acres, and I walked them all.

In shoes like this:


Did I mention that I eventually became the Director of Catering there...so I'd lift and carry banquet trays and walk them down long hallways in these shoes...yeah, I was fearless then.

Then I started teaching, and red stilettos seemed, somehow inappropriate for teaching high school, so I adjusted to shoes like this:

or this:

or occasionally, when I was feeling "kicky" this:

In the past few years, I've noticed how my foot no longer really fits into the shoes above...or at least they don't for very long. Maybe this was due to pregnancy (I've read that the extra lbs can also add to the "footage,") or maybe it's just the number of MILES I've run, which has added to the WIDTH (I wear wide shoes now. I NEVER wore wide shoes when I was younger.)

So, for the past couple of years, my shoe collection has evolved to include shoes that mostly look like this:

or this:


Do you see a trend here?

It's the heels, people...the heels!

The truth is, I'm short, or at least my legs are...and the extra 3" gives me a longer, leaner look...and let's face it, if I'm going to go eye-to-eye or toe-to-toe with some belligerent 15 year old, I'd just as soon have some height...

So, that my recent shoe purchases look something more like this:

is really rather jarring... I mean they're cute and all...and LORD KNOWS they are comfortable...sorta like wearing slippers to work, but they're not sexy-HAWT (I don't care what you say).

But, that's about all I can wear right now. I can barely even manage something like this:

I have a pair of these Born mules and I *heart* them completely because they're so comfortable, and yet they give me a little bit of lift, but can I wear them now with the PF and the bum hip?

NOOOOOOOOOOO

So, I'm making the best of it, and I am a lot more comfortable as I trudge around campus, but I miss my pumps and my high heels...and those extra inches...