After waiting much longer than someone who is so extremely hard on shoes should, I finally went and got a new pair of walking/stair climbing/chasing kids outside sneaker-type shoes today. Apparently, I was more tired than I thought, because after giving the salesman the shoe I wanted to try on and watching him go in back and return with the size I needed, I proceeded to put one of my insoles into the shoe next to me, finish lacing it up, and attempt to try it on.
The salesman asked me about whether or not the shoe was the right size. I said I wouldn’t know until I got the insole in it and then tried it on.
At that point I looked up and saw that he was lacing up a shoe for my right foot. The one I’d just put one of my insoles into was the right foot of the display pair. Duh! No wonder he was confused and asking me before I even got the shoe on if it was the right size.
Of course, it wasn’t the right size! They practically never put anything on the cute little wall displays that’s going to fit someone my height. I apologized to the salesman, explaining it had been a long day. He said the same was true for him, which a moment later he proved. Once I had the correct right shoe on with my insole in it, he had another woman come in the store who was looking for a salesperson not onsite today, and then was approached by someone else he’d been helping before me. Rather than handing me the shoe so I could finish lacing it up (perhaps he was concerned about my abilities with footwear at that point), he ended up carrying it all over the store with him, lacing it up himself, while helping the two other women at the cash register and other parts of the store.
I almost went up to him and asked for the shoe, but I figured I’d just look around a bit and wait for him to come back. I wasn’t thrilled with the way the first pair fit and had some concerns about how well they would hold up in the rain, since carpool and an outdoor campus require running through the rain at times. I found another brand, got my size, laced them up, and suddenly experienced that wonderful feeling of having some bounce in my step even after work on a hot, humid day. I’d found my pair.
I put my insoles into my old, worn-out shoes, tied and double-knotted them all by myself and paid for my new pair. On the way out, I thought about this morning when one of the kids got out at carpool with his shoes on the wrong feet and only one of the Velcro straps done. Lord, thank You for loving us even when we are looking “toe-up challenging” inside and out. Amen.
