Happy Feet!

I have a long history of struggling with shoes that hurt my feet.   I am not one of those women who wear stiletto heels or pointy toed monstrosities.   I am truly baffled when I see people pay big money for things like this

:

But even when I try to buy sensible footwear, I have a really hard time finding anything that fits well.  I have big feet. (Depending on the brand I may wear 10, 10 1/2 or 11).  Many stores carry only very limited selection of shoes in the larger sizes and some don't have them at all.   For years it has seemed like there was a rule against having anything that was both cute and comfortable.  Mostly I live in my Sketchers.  Sometimes I'm in Birkenstock. But when I have important meetings or go to church I wear dresses.  Finding shoes I can wear with dresses has been the bane of my existence.

Until now.  Last week my good pal and I were on a mission to find me some shoes to wear to a professional conference I have coming up where I will be presenting before an audience.  I know my stuff, and the focus really should be on what I am saying more than what I look like, but let's get real.  People are going to be staring at me and I don't want to be wearing stupid clunky shoes.  But I also know I'm going to be on my feel a lot, so I just can't wear something that rubs, pinches, slips, or crowds my toes no matter how good they look. 

So I went in search of a suitable compromise.  I needed something that felt good and looked acceptable for this gig.  I did not have high hopes.  But wonder of wonders, I found something that will absolutely work:  These are NaturalSoul by Naturalizer, Clover wide swingback sandals.  Size 10.  I wore these Sunday to church and then again today when I had a couple important meetings.  I was pretty happy with them Sunday, but today I really put them to the test.  At each of my meetings I had a ways to walk to get to where I needed to be.  In one case that was several blocks.  My feet never hurt once.

Hallelujah!!

Some women have different shoes to go with various outfits.  I'm just so dang grateful to find something that fits me well and feels good while still looking socially acceptable that I am ready to buy four pair of this exact same shoe so when one pair wears out I'll have back ups.  I'm not risking them getting discontinued.  Besides, I truly hate shoe shopping.  These work for me.  So they will be what I wear any time I am in a dress.   (I do have some white shoes and some red shoes that I will still OCCASIONALLY put on... but these are my new go-to shoes.)

It feels so good to have happy feet!