Although I have reached the half-century mark with my size 11 ego intact, my plight began in grade school. Despite the fact that I attended parochial school and wore oxfords every school day with my uniform, my mother would take me shoe shopping for Sunday and special occasions – which always ended in tears for me and my mother’s “nerves” would be worn thin.

I wore a size 10 and invariably the shoes she picked for me never resembled the shoes my classmates or friends wore.  I cried, I complained, and ultimately refused to wear what she picked for me.  Eventually she stopped taking me shoe shopping. Thus, I began saving my allowances to buy the shoes of my choice.

At the age of twelve, I worked the entire summer on an ice cream truck with a relative, just so I would have enough money to buy a specific pair of shoes to wear on the first day of school – one of the only days we were not required to wear uniforms.  Unfortunately, I stopped at the record shop first to buy my favorite 45, walked out leaving my wallet on the counter.  Needless to say, it was not there when I rushed back in.

It was only $50.00. But it meant the world to me.  I stood on the downtown street corner and cried as if someone had died.  People stopped to inquire what was the matter and I just could not explain.  Eventually I returned home bereft and forever jaded about the world. I discovered soon thereafter that my mother wore the same size (ten) when playing in her closet one afternoon.

I secretly began wearing her shoes.  Her shoes were beautiful and fit perfectly, the heels were a little high, however.  Whenever I asked her to let me wear her shoes, she told me they were “too grown” for me. Needless to say I continued to “shop” in my mother’s shoe closet for the rest of her life, even after my foot continued to grow to size 10 1/2.

Today I wear a size 11 and love your website! No longer do I have to endure the subtle sneers of shoe store clerks when I ask for a particular style in my size.  Funny, no one ever mentioned that your feet continue to grow long after everything else stops growing.
C. M

4.20.06