52 on Fridays (8/52) Shoes

Ice cream is for breakfast in my house on some mornings. My kids have worn mismatched dress-up costumes to Target. "Mud" isn't just a trendy name for the color of our playroom floor some days. But please, please, don't think that I am a complete pushover as a parent. I often painfully enforce Newton's famous 3rd law of Personal Responsibility- for every action there is a consequence. I offer into evidence the following well-worn pair of shoes.

The bedazzled flats were not a present but a lesson from our last trip to Disney. When my middle daughter did not listen to warnings to keep her feet in the high flying Peter Pan ride, she managed to lose just one of her sandals. She quickly learned that the indoor ride could not be closed for shoe hunting expeditions until the end of the day. Annie insisted that she would just spend the day with one shoe, and while the resulting blisters and sores would have likely taught one type of lesson, I couldn't say yes. We generally try not to advertise stereotypes from our home state of Mississippi the way a semi-barefoot child in a theme park would. So I marched her into the only store that sells shoes in the Magic Kingdom and informed her that she would be buying a replacement pair using her own spending money. The crying and moaning were clear indications that I hit her where it hurt. She realized I wasn't going to back down, so the sequined beauties you see above were selected, purchased, and worn.

All day long people, particularly Cast Members, commented on her beautiful shoes. Annie didn't waste any early opportunities to tell people that I made her buy those shoes. She was quite surprised that once her story was told most people took my side and did not offer to adopt her. So as the day went on, her story magically changed to one of how she made a mistake but dealt with the consequences herself by spending her own cash on the new shoes. Annie survived the experience and even had enough money left over to buy the baby Marie stuffed animal she wanted. I like to think that the lesson she learned was a much a souvenir as Marie.


My friend, Jackie, known as a great photographer, animal-lover, and all around amazing person, has a shoe post to share, too. Won't you visit her beautiful blog and share some love?