As I have said before, I am not a shoe crazy girl. Recently, my older son, Erick, needed shoes for an upcoming trip. Erick had developmental issues as he was growing up. One of the results is he has very small feet. Like kid sized. So he orders most of his shoes online, both to avoid shopping in the children’s section, and because the selections online have better dress shoe styles for him. So he found shoes he liked, checked the size chart, and ordered.

Unfortunately when the shoes arrived, they were way too big for him. He was disappointed, and a little concerned that a re-order might not arrive before his journey. My not-very-helpful response was he should try shopping in stores.

My youngest, James, was confused when I said we were going to a shoe store. He mainly wears sneakers, and we get them at big box stores. So I explained shoe stores, going back to my childhood visits to Len’s Shoe Box for corrective shoes. (No wonder I’m not shoe crazy).

So off we went, first to drop off the online return to UPS, then for restorative coffee, then to the shoe store. My first order of business was to give Erick space. So James and I looked at shoes ourselves. Erick was able to find a single pair he liked, and he was shocked at the much lower price he was able to pay in-store.

We tried one more shoe store. Erick decided he had had enough. We found James a new pair of sneakers, and surprisingly his feet had grown a half size. I cringed internally, remembering two summers ago when he grew though three sizes in one summer.

On the way home we had a conversation about homelessness and dogs. It brought back bad memories. We can’t have a dog in our current apartment. Someday.

We finished with a quick stop for a pool noodle and a floaty ring. Side note: we LOVE Memorial Pool on Illick’s Mill Road. If you haven’t been there, it’s well worth a visit. My skin is still healing and I don’t go in the water yet. But lots of parents don’t, and there are plenty of lifeguards. James is having lots of fun. There is a nice little park just down the road, too. I am healing, and hoping I will be comfortable in the water before summer ends.