Stilettos…

When I was 13 years old, my oldest sister bought me my first pair of heels, 1.5″ black stilettos. They were my favorite pair of shoes which lead me to adoring the wonderful world of stilettos. Stilettos have the ability to make you feel pretty when your clothes aren’t fitting right; Make you feel powerful walking into any room; Make you feel dressed up no matter what they are paired with or where you are. Most women are shoe fiends, but my style is particular, anything other than stilettos are not my kind of shoe.

For the last 10 years I have carefully curated a stilettos collection from around the world. Suede boots from Siena, ankle strap black leather from Milan, grey felt and leather boots from NYC, leather boots from Naples, bandeau black from Rome and the list goes on. ALL stilettos.

January 2012 my health went downhill fast. Within weeks I couldn’t walk up stairs, never mind in heels. At that point the only shoes I had were stilettos, 1 pair of dress flats, 2 pairs of sneakers and 1 pair of flip flops. For the past 18 months, I have worked really hard to get out of flats and into wedges. It took several months but I finally got into wedge boots, which is certainly not stilettos but a mile better than flats. I have worn stilettos a handful of times in the past 18 months usually for specific meetings or events, short time periods.

As I’m getting ready for Baltimore, realizing that stilettos will not be worn for many months or years while I’m in treatment, I have worn heels every day this week. Some might say its twisted that I’m putting my body through this much pain to wear shoes, but I look at it from both mental and physical. Mentally, I needed a win and as small as being able to push through all week wearing stilettos is, I needed and wanted it. Physically, well, I’m about to give up my life to take care of my physical ailments so for now my body is just going to have to deal with it.