Actually, I never made it close to a mile in someone else's shoes. It was more like 20 minutes and the several aisles of a grocery store. Which, in light of sizing issues, is still pretty impressive.
Hung out with my sister and we spent a lot of time walking around (yay for window shopping!) this afternoon. By the end of the day her idea to wear her cute new heels was looking more and more like a bad idea. A bad, painful idea. She made it back to the car and was fine while sitting, but as soon as we headed inside to get food, she hit her breaking point. Her toes were sore, her feet felt pinched and she had blisters on her heels.
Like a great sister, I offered to switch shoes with her. I was wearing soft ballet-type slip-ons and I figured that since my feet were bigger, it would be more comfortable for her. Of course, that left me with her shoes. Her size 8 shoes…and I wear size 10/11. Yeah, I didn’t really think that one through. I crammed my big feet into her small shoes and then headed off to shop. There was a moment at the beginning where I faltered, trying to figure out how to walk in heels that felt entirely too small, but after that I just kept walking.
I joke about having a very low pain tolerance, but there are times when the opposite is true. When I just decide to be more stubborn that whatever pain I’m feeling. Usually it’s a pride issue…I once tripped and hurt my ankle in front of large group of people and instead of acknowledging my tumble, I just smiled and walked on a very twisted ankle for the rest of the day. Same goes for when I accidentally fell off a chair, ran into a glass door, rammed my foot into a filing cabinet, and got my hair stuck in a car window. (If it seems like I spend a lot of time ‘accidentally’ hurting myself…well…it seems like that to me too) I don’t like looking silly or vulnerable in front of people, so I would rather just mask any pain until I can deal with it later.
So I walked purposefully through the grocery store tonight, concentrating very hard not to let any pain show in my face or my stride. Eventually it felt like the shoes were cutting into flesh so I finished shopping, grabbed the keys and headed to the van, grateful to just tumble in and shed the very painful shoes. My poor heels did not look good, and I’ve spent part of tonight babying them with soft pillows, soaking baths and soothing cream. It still kind of feels like they are on fire tonight, but I’m sure that will fade soon.
And the next time I decide to help my sister with her shoe issues, I’ll just do something potential less painful on my part…like carry her piggyback.
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