A girl after my own heart.

I have a confession. I know this may come as a shock, but I have a bit of a shoe obsession. There, I've said it. O.k., o.k. it's more than a "bit" of an obsession but it makes me feel better to downplay it a little. The teeny tiny adjectives seems to lessen the reality of it, help me in the whole process of justification and denial. It started out when I was a little girl. And it all started with a pair of boots and a snowstorm. You don't get much snow in Oregon. One token storm each winter that leaves the world white and lovely for about 2 hours before it melts away. But those 2 hours are bliss as a child. One winter evening, when I was 6 or 7, the storm arrived. The weatherman said it was going to be a big one. The flakes began to fall, the ground turned white, the world became silent. I watched out our front window in wonder. I don't remember all the details of that evening. Sometime during the watching my dad must have told me to bundle up, we were going out. I do remember the puffy coat, the blue and red knit hat and mittens. We walked together as the daylight turned to dusk, holding hands, passing all the familiar sights of my childhood days that somehow looked magical and foreign covered in a blanket of white. Across the freeway, into the welcoming warmth of Miller's department store, straight to the shoe department. We were there just for me...TO BUY NEW BOOTS. I could barely contain my excitement. I tried on every pair they had and picked the perfect ones. Dad told me I could wear them home. I was the happiest girl in the world. I didn't notice anything on the way home, just the way my new boots felt, how cozy my feet were, the footprint they left in the snow, how grown-up and sophisticated I felt. It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship, a girl and her boots. I guess I can blame it on my dad. Since that day, shoes have been my passion. Boots in particular have always held a certain allure for me. And it seems as though I have passed this obsession on to my daughter. I bought her some rain boots last month. They're princess (her favorite) and they're on clearance, that's practical, right? It rains in Utah (sometimes) and she could even use them in the snow. So very practical. It takes so little for me to convince myself that shoe purchases are actually necessary. But these my friends, were worth every penny. They are her footwear of choice these days, worn with every dress, every pair of jeans, shorts, and often her swim suit. Today, as we got home from church the first thing she did was pull off her (utterly adorable) shoes, throw them across the kitchen, and put on her boots. "Look Momma, boots," she said, with a big satisfied grin on her face. "So pretty," I agreed. A girl after my own heart.