heel!

I have always loved wearing high heels.

I think it started when I got my first pair of high-heel tap shoes in dance class (probably at age 9 or 10). Sure, they were only about an inch tall, but oh, the glamour!!! And oh, the sounds you could make with high-heel taps!!! The dance instructors used to make us sit on the floor with our feet in the air while they gave us directions just so we would all stop tapping -- it was that much fun!

And then came junior high, when it started to become acceptable to wear heels not only in the dance studio, but in church and at school, too. That was the same point in my life that I stopped growing; at age 13 I hit 5'2" and stopped, instantly becoming one of the shortest girls in my class.

That was also the same point that flare jeans came into popularity. (Remember that?) And all of them were too long for me to wear with tennis shoes, so I had to start wearing heels if I wanted to wear my cool new jeans.

That's how it started. From there, it just kind of snowballed.

This was back in the day before everyone started cranking out those cute little ballet flats; when I was in high school you had limited shoe options; you could wear tennis shoes, boots (which back then were like hiking boots, not Uggs or anything similar), flip-flops...or heels. Tennis shoes were out of the question for me unless I was wearing my windsuit (all of us on the swim team had 'em...they were bright purple, and we always thought we looked like big grapes). I wasn't really into wearing the boots, and flip-flops were only for summer. So heels it was.

When I went to Hoosier Girls State, my mom took me shopping for some "business dress" clothes, since you spend the whole week running for office and doing interviews. I got this super-cute outfit with white pants and a pink jacket, and we went on the hunt for the perfect pink shoes to go with the ensemble. We found these adorable alligator-skin round-toe pumps with big silver buckles on the sides, and I fell in love. I still have those shoes, and they are still one of my favorite pairs of all time. Ever since then, through the rest of high school and college, I just kept collecting more and more pairs of heels.

So I wear heels whenever I can; to work, to church, to go out on the town...and I love it! Even if it makes my feet hurt a little bit more, even if it slows me down just a hair, knowing that I stand a full 5'5" or 5'6" in my adorable shoes just makes me feel good!

But some older lady always tries to spoil it. Does that ever happen to you?

It's always some lady in her late 50s or older, and she's usually a total stranger. And she usually says something to the effect of, "I don't know how you walk around in those heels all day." Or, "You've got some guts, walking around in those heels!" This happens to me a LOT. Last Sunday, I was heading down the church hallway to go work in the nursery, and some lady who I definitely don't know sort of yelled after me, "She's pretty brave to be wearing heels in the nursery!" It was clear she wanted me to hear that, but I just kept walking, because it was like being made fun in a high school hallway, only I was in church and being made fun of by a senior citizen.

I always wish I had some sort of clever zinger for these old biddies sneering at me as I hoof it across their paths in stilettos. But I always sort of feel bad about the thought of sassing older people.

I just don't get why they all have a problem with young ladies wearing high heels!

I mean, some of these ladies were my age in the 40s and 50s. I know they had high-heeled pumps back then! And others of these ladies were living it up in the 60s and 70s, when platforms came into style. So I can't help feeling like these ladies have galloped around town in heels a time or two in their day. Why do they feel like giving me a hard time about it?

I promise that when I get older, even if I have vericose veins and arthritis caused by all my high-heeled younger days, even if I can't stand to wear anything that makes me taller than 5"3 and a half, I will never give a girl in her teens or twenties a hard time about wearing heels. I might even say something lame like, "Work it, girl!" Or maybe just, "I love your shoes!"