Shoes

Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones Deck prompts - Tell me about a pair of shoes you loved.

Shoes that fit perfectly have been my favorites for my entire life.

I have worn mocassins for much of my youth, which were always so comfortable, then no shoes for much of my teens and twenties. Going out meant having to wear shoes, then it was a quick slip on pair.

I want to be comfortable. I could wear heels, but they were never what I would consider my go-to shoes. They were for a specific occasion. A dress-up function. I had them. Today, I don't wear heels.

I've always had a pair of cowboy boots. They are comfortable boots and stylish. Then, always boots to wear on a motorcycle. Sturdy, yet comfortable.

My mother had an interesting take on shoes. She slept with her shoes when a child with lots of siblings, as she got one pair of shoes a year. As an adult woman, she would buy a new pair of shoes for every function. A funeral, a wedding, any other family gathering.

I learned that shoes are fun, and it is okay to have lots of shoes. As an adult woman, my husband compared me to other famous shoe people. I thought he was exaggerating, but maybe not. I didn't have a whole room for my shoes, but I did have several stations that were holding shoes.

Several years ago, I learned to give away 3 pairs for every pair I bought. That has helped significantly. At about 20 pairs, I stopped. Now it is time to do that again.

A few years ago, I got plantar fascitis, and I am now wearing inserts in my shoes. Not fun, but it makes sense, and my feet do not hurt.

Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones Deck prompts - Or hated but had to wear anyway.

Tell me about a perfect black dress you had or wished you had. Tell me about dressing all wrong. What about a great sale and where it led you? A favorite piece of jewelry you lost - earring, bracelet? Talk about clothes, what you put on your body. Maybe tattoos, a nose ring. You can always write longer than ten minutes. Try fifteen, twenty.

I always have a black dress with a cover-up of either light flowing material or a jacket cover. I wear it so infrequently that it is fine, probably for the rest of my life, to just have the one.

I am not a fashionista and have no qualms about that. I can and do dress okay for whatever function I attend. I am going to a wedding on Saturday, and the fashion is Hawaiian. Flowery and cool as it is going to be 100 degrees.

I don't have anything and am hoping to find something soon, or I will be making do from my closet. Cute slippers and sandals, I have.

I enjoy sales, but don't shop much at this stage in my life. I wear mainly everyday clothes, and even when I work, as a trainer, I have standard work clothes that fit the professional look.

One day while riding a motorcycle, I lost one of the brown diamond earrings I was wearing. I loved them, and they were a special anniversary gift from my husband. Now, one was gone.

Can I have a replacement made? Of course not. It would have cost the same amount as the entire set cost to do that. So, I decided to place the one in my wedding ring. I love it.

That is the consequence of not thinking through the jewelry worn on a motorcycle when the helmet goes on and off the head several times a day.

Today, I dress for comfort. I am retired and work outside of my home weekly, but not in the same way I was working prior to retirement. My work attire was work casual with the expectation that there would be days that would need more formal wear.

Six or seven years ago now I got a small tattoo, after not having a tattoo ever before. My grandson was graduating from the Army basic training and marrying his high school girlfriend. My daughter, niece, I, and girlfriend - then soon-to-be wife, all got the same tattoo. A Georgia peach tattoo.

Never did I ever think I would get a tattoo. Now with my trip to this wedding on Saturday, I am concerned there may be a Texas tattoo as I am going to that wedding along with my daughter and that same niece.