I had a friend who said that the reason women love shoes so much is that body weight can fluctuate causing clothing size to change – which gets depressing – but shoes are forever!  Fashionable shoes make you feel good and weight gain does not cause your shoe size to increase causing you to face yet another perceived failure.  Clearly this friend was not yet 50!

That was true for years.  My weight – and thus my clothing size – always fluctuated but my favorite pumps would always fit – and always make me feel special.

Not anymore!  For years I dressed in fashionable and fitted business suits with coordinating pumps.  Now, with a height of 5’7 and enough meat on my bones (sometimes more than I’d like) to ever be considered reed thin – and let’s not forget the disk I herniated about a decade ago – those pumps have become a bone of contention (sorry couldn’t resist that little pun).

What used to be a source of joy has become a challenge.

I used to shoe shop and fall in love with that one perfect pair.  Now I shop, find the pair and get out my measuring tape to check the height of the heel.  I’m not kidding.  I have to do that now.

To be quite honest I don’t think I ever wore a heel much higher than 3 – 3 ¼ inches (I think 3 ½ would always have been a tad high) but now I’m relegated to 2 ½ inches and no higher – that makes a huge difference!  That inch shuts me out of enjoying a boatload of fabulous shoes!

Now don’t get me wrong I still have some 3 inch holdovers from the past.  I dust them off and take them out occasionally.  But I’ve learned that if function is required – anything over 2 ½ inches is out of the question.

I hear so many women my age complaining about “shoe compromise” that I know I’m not alone.  And so many cave-in to the incredibly comfortable alternatives that proudly shun fashion – they’re around every corner waiting to lure us in to a life without pointy toes.

Don’t get me wrong, I like comfort as well as the next person, but I enjoy moving back and forth between both worlds.  I’m just not ready to walk away from my pointy toed heels!