Silver Shoes

One thing I just can not tolerate is clutter. My philosophy is simple. Use it or lose it. I have a one year rule. If I have not used it in the past year I get rid of it. I try to donate really useful items to local charities. If I really hate the item I assume most others will as well. An example of this would be clothing that is stained or damaged... it goes to land fill. Items with a lot of good use left in them challenge me to find the right match of useful item to person in need of that particular item.

Surely you know the old adage "One man's junk is another man's treasure?" My father used to quote that a lot. He was talking about his junk treasures and that was his justification for keeping rusted bed springs in the yard I suppose.

Our family home was so full of clutter when I was a child that I was ashamed to have my friends see where I lived. I would get off the school bus several blocks away and walk just so fellow students could not see me enter our house. Our yard was full of so much junk I was embarrassed to have anyone see. That yard was missing nothing from the stereo type yard that is going through your mind as you read this. My parents could not seem to get rid of anything.

In my adult years I visited our family home often. I loved my mother in spite of her clutter. I remember one very sad bouquet of plastic flowers covered in dust sitting on the old buffet. I questioned my mother why she had that nasty looking thing. She obviously did not like it very much better than I did. Her reply was simple. "It was a gift." That was the day I mentally registered all of my philosophies on clutter and what to keep and what not to keep. Use it or lose it... Even the silver shoes.

That nasty bouquet was good for nothing but the land fill and sadly it would even be a problem there. Plastic just doesn't go away, but that is another blog for another day. If it is not biodegradable and I am pretty sure my silver shoes fit into that category it is very important to find someone to love them. I do not want the person I gave my silver shoes to feeling like I gave her some dusty old plastic roses. If she doesn't love them I hope she will not feel obligated to keep them just because they were a gift.

I love silver shoes, but I only want them when I have a real purpose to wear them. I am talking about shoes with elegant sparkle. The kind of shoes that are classy not trendy... I am referring to the kind of shoes that are a staple in a woman's wardrobe if she is fortunate enough to have reason to wear them. These are shoes for very very special occasions. These are the kind of shoes most women have to go shopping for when the occasion to wear them makes it's way to your social calendar. These are the kind of shoes that go with designer dresses, the red carpet, ballrooms... all that is truly elegant and feminine. I am not talking about flashy or trendy or gaudy silver shoes... I am talking about simple elegant silver shoes. The kind of shoes that make you feel very special just to own them.

If you own them it might be because you were invited to a private viewing at the Met, maybe you have a friend that has asked you to join her on the red carpet, or maybe you and your favorite person are going to the opera... a concert... anywhere that you can dress up... I mean really dress up. For most of us... this is a once in a lifetime occasion. Then what do you do with those perfectly good silver shoes?

I had those shoes and this was my dilemma. But I had an even bigger problem. My silver shoes didn't fit. I purchased them to wear to a wedding, but that was the year my mama was dying... We didn't go. The shoes were forgotten for a very long time and one day while looking through my closet there they were.

When I opened the box I got that emotional feeling women get when they see a pair of shoes they love! I lifted one out of the tissue paper and slipped it on. Cinderella I am not. Ouch. They didn't fit. I was devastated. I bought them without trying them on. They were supposed to fit. Even if another special occasion were to arise, these shoes would never work for me.

Silver shoes. With just the right touch of rhinestones... not too much... but just enough to make you want to wear them somewhere special. Dancing shoes. Now what was I going to do with them!? I had to find someone that could use them.

I thought maybe I knew the right person so I packed them in with the items going home with a dear friend. I was pretty sure the shoes would fit her eldest daughter.

Now I have doubts. I do not want the dear sweet child I gave them to feeling she has to keep them because they were a gift. Maybe the style is too old for her. She is a young girl, I am an older woman. Would she even want them for dress up? A school play? Halloween?

We all want to give gifts that people will love. I see elegant silver shoes, but to the recipient of my silver shoes... maybe these are just like those dusty plastic roses.

I want her to know she doesn't have to love them. She doesn't have to keep them if she doesn't love them. It really is more blessed to give than it is to receive. Never feel guilty for giving away something that was a gift. Pass it on so it will become someone else's 'silver shoes'