When I was a child my shoe size was one size smaller than my age:  when I was age 8 I wore a size 7; when I was 9 I wore an 8; when I was 10 I wore a 9; and so on until at age 12 I reached an 11.

In addition to having a long foot I was also “blessed” with a super narrow foot, making it doubly hard to find age-appropriate shoes.  As a young girl I HATED shopping for shoes because I could never find the popular girls styles in my size.  They always showed me pumps or what I called “old lady shoes” because at that time designers didn’t make girls’ shoes in women’s sizes.

Once I remember selecting a popular shoe for girls and asking to see it in my size (I think I was 11 or 12 and wearing a 10N at the time). The salesman brought out a women’s pump that was almost electric blue.  I took one look at the shoe and gave him a piece of my mind:  what color was that?  Who would wear that color??? Why did he bring me that ugly shoe?  Just because I had a long foot didn’t mean I wanted ugly shoes!! I went on and on.  The poor salesman sheepishly explained that that was the only color he had in my size.  I told him thanks and went on my way. As a result of these and similar experiences, I often wore sneakers—which I bought in boys’ sizes.  Thanks DesignerShoes.com for having a selection of shoes for the long and narrow foot like mine—I now wear an 11.5 narrow.

H

12.2.06