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January 2008 
Heels & Grandmothers
Posted on Jul 15th, 2007
by 
Gwen
Gwen
We were coming out of Belk, this chain store that my grandmother is fairly nuts for. I was still in high school and had been wearing a size 10.5 shoe for several years but still couldn't handle going into the shoe department and being told "no" to all the cute shoes and "yes" to the well-cushioned posturpedic ones.
We were coming out of Belk, and I was bemoaning my feet and all the awkward things that happen to me because of my size and my grandmother said, "Gwendolyn, be thankful you have feet." And as though she had timed it to happen, a man without feet, nothing from the ankles down, on crutches, hobbles past us. Very slowly. My grandmother summed it up all very nicely by saying, "now, as I was saying, be thankful you have feet."
From that point on I believed my grandmother to be magical, correct on every count and somehow able to control my fate and the fates of others. I also stopped hating my feet. And my self.
***
I quit wearing heels when I became a hard-core feminist for a couple of months in college. And until this summer I had pretty much sworn them off. I know they're bad for your posture, back, feet and all. But I found a pair of incredible shoes that I wear once every two weeks or so and they make me feel very lady-like. Which happens infrequently for me. I don't know, I'm just weird like that.
Anyway, the whole point of this post is that it doesn't have to be either/or. It can be both/and. I'm tall and have big feet AND I wear heels sometimes. I'm a world traveler AND it's nice to have a home base sometimes.
My grandmother and grandfather celebrate their 50th anniversary next week. I hope to join them for it and be there to represent for mom and her side of the family. I think she would have liked to have been there, too.
And for the record, I still think my grandmother has some magic powers.
I hope she passes them on to me.
We were coming out of Belk, and I was bemoaning my feet and all the awkward things that happen to me because of my size and my grandmother said, "Gwendolyn, be thankful you have feet." And as though she had timed it to happen, a man without feet, nothing from the ankles down, on crutches, hobbles past us. Very slowly. My grandmother summed it up all very nicely by saying, "now, as I was saying, be thankful you have feet."
From that point on I believed my grandmother to be magical, correct on every count and somehow able to control my fate and the fates of others. I also stopped hating my feet. And my self.
***
I quit wearing heels when I became a hard-core feminist for a couple of months in college. And until this summer I had pretty much sworn them off. I know they're bad for your posture, back, feet and all. But I found a pair of incredible shoes that I wear once every two weeks or so and they make me feel very lady-like. Which happens infrequently for me. I don't know, I'm just weird like that.
Anyway, the whole point of this post is that it doesn't have to be either/or. It can be both/and. I'm tall and have big feet AND I wear heels sometimes. I'm a world traveler AND it's nice to have a home base sometimes.
My grandmother and grandfather celebrate their 50th anniversary next week. I hope to join them for it and be there to represent for mom and her side of the family. I think she would have liked to have been there, too.
And for the record, I still think my grandmother has some magic powers.
I hope she passes them on to me.
Access: Public
Nice post, Gwen. Are those the heels you wear :). I love ‘em. I used to own a killer pair of red heels that had red feather accents and then I brought home my first cat and he must have thought he was doing me a favor by killing the bird in the closet, they were trashed. Oh well. I do have a picture somewhere. If I find it, I’ll post it!!
Good reminder that it doesn’t have to be either/or. I struggle with that often…I’m a yoga practitioner and a yoga teacher AND I eat meat (after being veggie for 6 years), drink occasionally, and use colorful language. I am going to travel more AND keep my house in PA. For months I’ve been thinking it had to be one or the other, but hey, why not both!! haha…
safe travels and congrats to your grandparents…50 years, that’s quite the accomplishment.
she ain't kiddin, either. She once told me to 'walk a mile in her shoes' and then put em on my feet to prove the point!!! (ok, she didn't, but she COULD HAVE ;) – but really, her feet don't look big in proportion to her height (and I've got some tall tales… yuk yuk)
You already have magic powers, gwen :)
Yeah I’m in trouble for that one. :P
@ Guru: I'd love to see those pics! I'm also a yoga teacher with a tech side, so I understand what you mean about the struggle. I've given up the struggle and found a way to reconcile them (details on that soon, let me know if you've got any tech background).
@ Jake: Thank you for the recognition of my prowess & powers. <3
Ok, so now I'm curious…how tall are you? My dad is (well, was…he's shrunk some) 6'8”, and the doctors told my parents I'd be at least 6' tall. I'm 5'5”, and I often wish I was taller! But I say good for you for wearing the heels anyway! I can't wear them; my feet were just not designed for heels ;)
And both is definitely a good thing. I like to make my cake and eat it!
Of course, I'm an english teacher and a bad speller. That's not really the best and combination :)