New Shoes

I have loved shoes for as long as I can remember but didn’t think I had a problem until one day my husband casually referred to me as “Imelda” — as in Imelda Marcos, the wife of Ferdinand Marcos, former president of the Philippines.  Rumor had it that Imelda was the owner of more than a thousand pairs of shoes and to me, that seems excessive. To my husband, who subsists on probably two pairs in his life at any one time, I probably seem as extravagant.  It’s not that I own fancy, dress shoes — my half of our closet houses hiking boots and water sandals, running shoes, several kinds of clogs and one lovely pair of knee-high boots.  Of course I was delighted years ago when I discovered Zappos, the online shoe company that ships free of charge when either sending an order or returning it.  Zappos became my personal ticket to shoe heaven.  Yesterday when a new computer printer was delivered for my husband, I realized I might have a little bit of a monkey on my back when I met the UPS man at the door and he asked with grave concern, “I haven’t brought you a box from Zappos for a while — is everything okay?”  I wasn’t aware that my well being was measured by shoe delivery frequency and I assured him that I’m fine — but when I really  thought about it seriously, maybe I’m not.  Maybe I need just one more pair of hiking boots, before winter gets here.