I saw the title of a blog floating by that had something to do with shoes. I like shoes – in fact, my second job is working is a shoestore. But alas, I cannot buy the shoes I sell. It’s not because I sell men’s or children’s shoes, I do sell ladie’s shoes. It’s because of my skinny feet. Very skinny feet. 8 1/2 AAA to be exact. It’s a slim width – not medium, not narrow, but slim. That’s a pretty hard size to find. And because of that, I do not have a pair of shoes to go with everything that I would like to match footwear to. Yes, my Imelda Marcos aspirations were cut short due to my skinny feet.

Let me tell you what happens when you have skinny feet. Most women’s shoes come in a B width, which is about 4 sizes too wide. When I wear B width shoes, I have a lot of room on the sides of my feet, even though the length is fine. Also, because the bones at the back of my ankle are also extremely skinny, the back of the shoe does not grip enough to keep the shoe on my foot. This is rather annoying, walking when the shoes don’t stay on. If I wear a sandle or something with an open toe, my foot slides a bit too far and my toes hang off the edge of the shoe. Again, very annoying.

One of the solutions that eager (and under educated) salespeople tell me is to go down a size. I don’t think they’re hearing me correctly. I have a TRIPLE A width. That’s not just a little narrow, it’s a lot narrow. Squishing my toes is not the answer to a proper fit. If I do go down sizes to get a shoe to stay on, I’m looking at a 6 or 6 1/2. Don’t forget, I wear a 8 1/2. If I did resort to such tiny shoes simply to keep something stylish on my foot, I’d be in constant pain every time I stand up or try walking. So going down a size (or in my case, many sizes) is not the answer.

I have found some resources online where I can find shoes my size. And I can even go with a Double A width if it’s something I’m likely to wear socks with, though I usually need heel grips for something like that because of my bony heels. I hear people complain of why they have wide feet – going barefoot a lot as a child is a good one. Hey, I went barefoot a lot. In the summer I never wore shoes unless we went to the store, and I never wear shoes in the house. How come my feet haven’t gotten to at least a medium width? I’m doomed to be forever in search of shoes that fit – not only my feet but also my budget. Have you seen the prices on slim shoes? No way I’m gonna find shoes that fit at Payless, even though that’s my budget.

I suppose the man upstairs did have a reason for giving me such skinny feet. It’s to keep me from bankrupting myself buying shoes. That’s gotta be it. I know I’d have a closetful of them if I could fit in them. So I guess there’s a reason for everything.