Mary Jane's

I have very few memories of my early childhood; one of the things I do remember was Easter with Nannie and Papa and my shiny new Mary Jane’s. You see Nannie was very old school. As a baby and toddler she always dressed me in beautiful hand smocked dresses with shiny baby doll shoes. This tradition remained through early childhood and was always tied to Easter.

Every year for Easter Sunday she would buy me the most beautiful dress and shiny patent leather Mary Jane shoes. The dresses had bows and sashes, they had amazing hand sewn designs, they were soft, flowed in the breeze and some had crinoline’s under them that made them bounce as I walked.

During this yearly event we would go to The Center Shop (at the time the best local department store) to find just the right dress and then go to Hofimers (the shoe store at the time) to buy my shiny new shoes. The day would end with a special lunch. On those days I always felt like I was a princess.

Keeping in mind, dress shopping for a chubby little girl was a chore. While I would try on dress after dress trying to find what Nannie referred to as “the perfect dress”, Nannie never let on I was too chubby for any dress, to her it was finding me a perfect dress. A perfect little dress for her perfect little princess, you see in Nannie’s eyes I was perfect. Even though I was a chubby little girl, Nannie would always say its “just baby fat… she will grow out of it”.

You see, I was a chubby child with skinny parents. My mother’s family was all large people, not really fat people just very large big boned people. This gene seemed to skip my mom, she was tall and thin. She would not be described as big boned. So what she missed I inherited. My father’s family was made up of relatively short people with large bones and well shaped booty’s. So when you put that all together you get me. A large boned girl with a well shaped booty, large feet and hands.

So back to the pretty dresses and the Mary Jane's, I would start Easter morning wearing my pretty dress and new shoes…by the end of the day, the shoes were scuffed and the dress was typically strained or torn. As I have said as hard as I have tried I am not a graceful person, I am actually a klutz. (You will see this pattern continue through my stories.) I have always been hard on shoes, I really don’t know why or how this happens, maybe it’s because my feet are so large they get in the way.

To this day I have a fascination with shiny patent leather shoes, I am always drawn to the beautiful “grown up” baby doll shoes. I would love to own a pretty delicate pair of baby doll shoes. You know the pair….very thin heel, pointy toe and a single pretty little strap that goes over the top of your foot. In an episode of Sex and The City, Carrie discovers a vintage pair in the Vogue closet; she refers to them as an “urban myth”. But you see over the span of my life I have learned, I will trip and scuff any pretty patent leather shoe, so why bother, it only leads to disappointment.

Lessons learned. I am one of those people who will trip or fall at the most critical moments. This will ruin your prettiest shoes. And over time those embarrassing and disappointing moments will eventually become defining moments in your life lessons.