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Riley has been "blessed" with my wide feet. Ever since she started walking, we have struggled with finding shoes that didn't give her blisters. She is also really tall for her age (translate: big feet!) and is not the most graceful, nor cautious, kid on the playground. Because of that, we have always tried to find shoes that don't flop around or cause her to trip excessively. That is, if we can get her to keep them on in the first place - she loves to kick her shoes off whenever she can (who wouldn't, really, considering the aforementioned blisters).
So, imagine my delight when I came home one day and Daddy had outfitted her in these:
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| (Of course, they looked much newer then) |
They were perfect! And so cute. They fit her really well, never gave her blisters and were pretty much impossible for her to take off on her own.
What I soon realized about these shoes, however, is that on the annoying scale of 1 to 10, they are about a 100. I dread each and every time I have to put them on. Sure, high tops are cute, but if I need a toddler size shoe horn to jam her foot in each time, I'm thinking cute is overrated. Then there are the laces - why is it that one side always has a five foot lace while the other is the length of my pinkie? It takes me a least three minutes to tie a bow. All of this wrangling is done while I try to convince a two-year-old to sit still and not scamper off to find something more entertaining to do.
Putting on these shoes is at least a 20 minute exercise and has caused us to be late to more than one play date...and I HATE being late. I now actually factor in "shoe-putting-on-time" into my estimation of when we need start getting ready to leave the house.
A few months ago I was in Ross and found these babies:
Cute right? No laces, no high top - I LOVE them.
Yeeaahhh.... did you also notice how clean and shiny they are?
Riley has refused, in no uncertain terms, to wear blue shoes. "No, no, no, I dooon't liiiike them Mommy! I want the red ones!"
So I continue to struggle with the red shoes.
That brings me to this morning, when I was putting on her shoes and, once again, sweating through the whole process. As I kneeled in front of her, simultaneously trying everything I could to entertain her while I contorted her feet into the shoes, I suddenly realized something.
One day, I will miss these red shoes.
One day, when I'm buying her another pair of soccer cleats, when she's begging for money for expensive high heels, or when she's slipping into her white wedding shoes, I will remember and I will miss her little red shoes.
Thank you God for reminding me today that every moment, every detail, every memory of every day is something I should celebrate and cherish. They are all wonderful and full of their own sweet goodness.
Today, I kind of love these shoes.
And I'm already prepared for next year!
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