Entry No. 2

Years ago, I was doing a fashion show. Now, here are the fashion show rules.

First rule: No one talks about the fashion show.

Just kidding. Talk about the fashion show. Always talk about the fashion show. Bring your friends.

First Rule: All the clothing and accessories are donated. If there's nothing that fits you in the shoe department, you gotta bring your own shoes to walk the catwalk.

But that year, 2023, I think it was, I was blessed by the goddess of shoes! All the shoes that were donated fit me. All of them. I walked away from that fashion show with five pairs of shoes, except not all the shoes. There was this pair. I wasn't even wearing them. They were being split between two other models, and I knew that when the smoke had cleared after the show, they would be gone. And rightly so! I can't claim ALL the shoes, even though I like them, and I would give them a good home. I should just let them go like all the puppies in the window.

I didn't even like them. They're open-toed. I don't like open-toed shoes. Part of my extreme distaste toward open-toed shoes comes from the fact that I'm from Canada. In the town where I grew up, there wasn't even a sidewalk outside my house. My driveway wasn't even paved. And it snowed half the year. And just to be clear, you wouldn't want to wear open-toed shoes for half of the other half of the year because the weather was like it had been summoned by a dark wizard. And in a second, we'll be chatting about how I like half of you half as much as you deserve, and then we'll have to go on an adventure where we'll rate how far we walk from one to Lord of the Rings. And no one will want to wear heels for that.

But I like metallics.

And I like ruffles.

And they felt so good on my feet when I sampled them on the runway.

I live in a better part of Canada now that I'm all grown up, but I still don't like open-toed shoes. Your pedicure needs to be dead on because you cannot wear open-toed shoes with stockings of any kind. That's annoying. And I have feet that always end up getting hurt in open-toed shoes.

But it was 2024, and I was still thinking about them.

It was 2025, and I was still thinking about them.

Then, it was Christmas, and I was still thinking about them.

I was never going to be able to track down the person who had taken them after the fashion show, but I saw a pair in a thrift store. They were the wrong size, but they gave me hope. If there were two pairs of them hanging around the valley, then there was a chance I could find a pair. I went on Ebay, found them in my size, sent my husband the link, and told him that I would be most delighted on Christmas morning if he were to give them to me. It would be like Cinderella and the glass shoe, except better because I'd have ruffles!

So, he got them for me. It was magical. It was magical all the way until I got upstairs and looked in my closet.

You know when you have a swatch you have to match in your closet, sometimes it's a belt or a bag, and you take the bit of fabric around to see what matches it? You know that amazing feeling when you see something that matches exactly?

This was not that moment. This was the opposite of that moment.

I had nothing. Easy fix. I just had to go dress shopping.

Since I found them on Ebay, I know the price. They were $35+ shipping.