Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

The thing about wearing dress shoes is that they're not terribly practical. Even the pair, for example, that I'm wearing right now.

They're a black pair of loafers, pretty basic, with a simple side buckle. I bought them at Payless when I bought the shoes for my Halloween costume, since they were having a buy-one-pair-get-another-half-off sale.

I no longer had any dressy shoes that could go well with dress pants. You never know when they could come in useful, like for example, talking to loan officers and the like.

The thing about these loafers is that, while they are extremely comfortable when you're walking around, they're not really comfortable to drive in. In fact, they're not comfortable at all. In fact, since they're not broken in yet, they don't flex that well. My right foot, which had to switch back and forth between the gas and the brake, went numb. Well, first it went numb, then it got painful, then it was both numb and painful.

I'm still working on regaining sensation, partly into my dog walk.

Experiences like that make me glad I don't need to dress up to go to work anymore. When you work at home, you get to work in exercise pants or cargo pants or whatever you feel like wearing that day. You could even work in your pajamas, except that I've tried that before and discovered you end up with people knocking on your door. They seem to be attracted by pajamas.

Besides, if you wear your pajamas all day, what do you change into to get comfy at night?

The reason I no longer had any dress shoes, until I bought these loafers, is that the ones I had several years ago when I had an office job are now too big. Apparently, when you lose weight, you lose it everywhere, including your feet. It's a gradual process, but it does happen eventually.

Of course, working at home, I don't usually wear shoes at all. I walk around in socks most of the time, or if it's really cold in some slipper socks. And working at home, I get to take periodic short breaks to pet my dog or walk my dog. I admit, she's spoiled but then, so am I.

I remember working in a cubicle, and every time I'd look up at the picture of her on my portable wall, I felt sad about how she was sitting at home, alone and miserable.

Dressing casual all the time, though, does get to be a little bit boring, so I enjoy dressing up on the weekends. Or even sometimes during the week for no reason at all.

You can't explain this sort of thing to a dog. She doesn't get it. The only clothes she ever wears are a collar and, in wintertime, her snow boots.

Una has an entirely different association with shoes, because she knows that when I put shoes on, I'm going to go out. Sometimes, this means she comes with me. Sometimes, this means she stays home alone. But she never knows which one it is, so she always get excited when I start putting on shoes.

She can hear me putting on shoes from another room. For that matter, she can hear me putting on socks.

Well, I think my toes are almost back to regular sensation, though they still feel pinched and numb. That's OK. I'll be home soon and starting a day's work. Time to take my shoes off, slide into some fuzzy socks and some comfy clothes, while Una naps, one ear open for the sound of socks and shoes being put on.

Copyright 2004 by Alyce Wilson

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