Shoes

I have achieved the impossible. My husband is the anti-fashionista. To get new clothes he must either be surprised by them or dragged along to the store. To get him to choose anything other than a plain t-shirt and denim carpenter shorts I must beg, bribe, and/or cajole. His opinion of shoes has been that any individual needs absolutely no more than four pairs and that even that is pushing it. Those pairs are: casual shoes, church shoes, sandals, and boots (for hiking/snow). Any more than that is unnecessary. And perhaps snobby. Being a woman, I disagree. I own close to 30 pairs of shoes.

My success story begins last fall with Eric's ragged tennis shoes. I told him he was not allowed to continue wearing them through the winter. Because I work at a store that carries really good shoes, I get a sweet deal on them. We went to bornshoes.com, put "Dryz" (an insole that is so comfy it will make one drool) into the search, and had him choose a pair he thought would be acceptable. He chose these, but in a different color. I just like the artsy picture.

Once we had thrown out his nasty tennis shoes, the number of shoes in his collection had once again reached equilibrium (important to him) and all were in acceptable condition (important to me). I had my parents purchase him a pair of snow boots for Christmas. He could then use those for winter scout camp rather than military boots which make his toes cold. See what a good wife I am? We then bought him exercise shoes for the treadmill.

As we were planning for our cruise I decided to surprise him with a pair of sandals, also with the Dryz insole. By now he was so converted to Born shoes that he did not feel the need to throw away the sandals I'd bought him the summer before.

Imagine my surprise to find him looking at the Born website, scoping out shoes. Of his own free will he has decided that he wants to have a pair of shoes that are better for winter. I didn't even have to say anything. Once we buy these he will be the proud owner of two pairs of casual shoes, one pair of Sunday shoes, two pairs of sandals, and a pair of snow boots. Including his military shoes it brings the total to 9. Alas, I have no video to show my victory dance.