Good Shoes

In the current K-drama Rebekah and I are finishing up (She Was Pretty), one character gifts another with a pair of shoes that are both an upgrade and permission to move on with her life.

More than a few years ago, when I was figuring out Twitter, I read a blog an author had written about her mother. Years ago, the mother had won a magazine contest about women who do their own makeup.

The author's mother was Asian, a single mom, and took her time in front of the mirror each morning, looking at herself while she carefully put on her makeup. The author said it was a time of meditation for her mother, a centering, a time for herself, before venturing into the world to be her best self. And her mother became quite adept with makeup.

The world "mindfulness" is used a lot these days. But what a beautiful concept, to spend a few quiet moments each day carefully examining ourselves, carefully choosing what we will wear, and deciding how we will present ourselves to the world, so that we always present our very best selves.

A popular quote says, "Good shoes will take you to good places." But what shoes? And what places?

Perhaps it's a call to us step a little further outside of the familiar, to stretch ourselves a little further, so that we can continue becoming our very best selves.

Here is the full quote from She Was Pretty, along with a photo of my granddaughter Riley showing off her new shoes on National Pancake Day 2020, where we had a family pancake dinner at IHOP in Morris, a couple weeks before COVID shut everything down.

May you never put on a pair of shoes again without thinking about where they will take you.

"If you wear good shoes, they will take you to good places.Wear these shoes and go to good places. Don't think about other things, and don't worry aout anything. Go wherever you want to go, wherever you want to go. It's going to be uncomfortable at first. You pay a lot of attention when you walk. But they will be comfortable soon. They will, for sure, be comfortable enough that you won't notice them."