ShoeFail

I consider this one of civilization's most inexplicable failures. No, not war, not poverty. Those are what I would consider Legitimately Thorny Problems. It might reasonably take another millennium to figure those things out. I'm talking about something that should have been sorted out several decades ago, and wasn't.Shoes.I'm not asking for magic. I'm just asking for an attractive pair of shoes that I can walk around in all day without wanting to break things.I've developed heel spurs, or plantar fascitis, or some other kind of painful foot thingy that I refer to as "boo boo heel." And it's Civilization's fault. Yeah, I went there. I blamed Civilization. Sure, it doesn't help that I walk like a heavy-footed gorilla, but still. I'm not the one who decided to make sidewalks out of concrete then make shoe soles out of leather. That was Civilization. Add it up. It equals ouch.Isn't it reasonable to expect, in the age of space travel and massively linked supercomputers with the intelligence level of cats, that someone somewhere would be able to design a shoe that is both pretty and comfortable?Apparently no. It's not reasonable. We can have cell phones that take pictures, play music, and surf the web. We can have cars that map out your route, play movies for your kids and talk to you in a variety of pleasing accents. But a pair of shoes that does two things?Nyet.I'm not a comfortable-shoes-with-good-arch-supports kind of gal, okay? I put on black eyeliner this morning just to go out and buy milk. But, in the end, pain is rather compelling, so eventually I found myself in Designer Shoe Warehouse browsing the Clarks, Tevas, Ecco's, Danskos and (God help me) Birkenstocks.I actually choked a little bit when I wrote that last word.Anyway, long story short, I made a deal with myself. I bought one of pair of Teva sandals and vowed to only ever wear them inside where no one will ever see me.(Except my husband who's contractually obliged to deal with it.)I confess, when I put them on, my feet rejoiced. It's like they were the long lost friends my feet have been waiting for all these years. I'm wearing them now and I never want to take them off.Oh, but I will. Believe. These bungie cord straps and sensible arch supports will never see the light of day. Of that you can be sure.