If the shoe fits. . .

Being a good friend and all, I wanted to share with you the glory of my freshly cleaned, cut, buffed, scraped, filed, moisturized, painted, and decorated tootsies. Because I know that if we were girlfriends in real life, as opposed to the internet, you would want to rejoice in a good pedicure with me. That's what girlfriends do.

Just ignore the fuzziness and out-of-focus-ness of the snapshot, and admire the hand painted flowers on each of my big toes. Proof that I can get a little bit crazy when the kids are visiting Grandma.

Seeing these pictures, made me remember a story about Bubba. My feet have grown in the last few years. Pretty much since I've had children. Before my first pregnancy, I was a real size 8 but usually squeezed into a 7 1/2, unless it was a sandal. You just can't sneak in a half-size smaller when you wear sandals.

Some time after Bubba was born I realized that I was a true size 8 1/2. I embraced motherhood and put aside my pride and actually started buying shoes that were the right size. The birth of the girls came and went and I never gave much thought to my shoe size.

Back in May, around my 32nd birthday, Bubba had a function at school. I decided to shower, shave, and actually wash my hair for the occasion. I wore some fashionable clothes and put on make-up. I even wore some of my favorite sandals that I'd worn on our honeymoon almost 9 years earlier. I was pretty sure everyone up at school wondered when Bubba got a cute new babysitter.

Anyways, I was pretty proud of the way I cleaned up and sported the look until it was time to pick Bubba up from school. When he got in the car, he said, "Mom, why can't you just buy shoes that fit instead of ones that make your foot hang over the edge?"

You can imagine my horror as I received this bit of fashion advice from my SEVEN YEAR OLD. BOY. When we got home, I inspected the fit of my beloved sandals and a few of my other pairs. I realized, with much sadness, that Bubba was right. My old sandals didn't fit any more.

Now, girlfriends, shoes aren't like clothes. They don't shrink when you wash them, and you can't blame the dry cleaners when your favorite slacks are suddenly a little snug. When your shoes are too small, it's because your feet have grown. So I pledged to buy some new sandals. My objective was to try to find something that didn't make my foot hang over the edge, or embarass my son.

As I was shopping, I learned that my true shoe size is probably now a size 9. When I swallowed my pride and admitted to Honey that his delicate flower of a bride wore a size 9 shoe, his response was, "Well, you know what they say about girls that have big feet. . ."