#19 Buy the perfect pair of boots

For two years I admired the tall brown boots that girls were wearing around me. You know, the knee high brown leather boots that you wear skinny jeans tucked into? I’d see girls in their skinny jeans and boots and think, “If only I could wear those”. Unfortunately, most of the girls that wear these outfits are thin….something I am not. I have sizeable hips and usually wear flared jeans to balance out the “flare” of my hips. Whenever I pictured myself wearing skinny jeans (an oxymoronic term in my case) tucked into tall boots, this is what I imagined:

Or this:

It wasn’t until I turned thirty that I finally decided that I didn’t care if I looked like twin pop or Patrick the Starfish, I wanted a pair of boots and anyone who didn’t think they looked good on me could just deal with it. This attitude is one of the perks of getting older.

The English poet, Jenny Joseph, wrote this poem in 1961. It inspired the formation of The Red Hat Society and illustrates my feelings perfectly.

Warning, When I Am An Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple

WARNING
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people’s gardens . . .
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

I put this item on my list in January, but it wasn’t until the fall that I started shopping seriously for boots. My friend Rachael had told me before about a store in a neighboring town called “Heel and Sole”. She thought I might find a pair of boots there. I’d driven by the store before, but it was just a little shoe store in the corner of a strip mall, and I didn’t really think they’d have exactly what I was looking for. But, one day, while in the neighborhood, I stopped in to check it out. As I walked into the door, my mind began to spin, because, what looked like a tiny strip mall shoe store, was in fact a twisting, turning maze full of shoes from ceiling to floor. Everywhere I looked there were stacks of every kind of shoe you could imagine. It was like Mary Poppins’ carpet bag. How could something that seemed so small hold so much? I sent a text message to Rachael asking her why she hadn’t told me about this place. Then I remembered she had. But why hadn’t she emphasized how amazing it was! I found a pair of boots that matched those I’d been envisioning in my head and they were half the price I was hoping to spend.

I wear my boots all the time now and I love them. They have proven to be very comfortable, warm on cold days, and as an extra bonus, they have little buckles on them and when I walk through the library at school, I can hear the buckles jingle and it makes me feel like a cowboy with spurs on. Who doesn't like feeling like a cowboy once in a while?