Mom and her shoes

You know how it is when you have that one pair of shoes that you just love to wear? Maybe you have a child who only wants to wear one special pair of shoes or in my case a mom and her shoes.

It all started years ago when I bought my mom a pair of Easy Spirit tennis shoe mules with a strap. She fell in love with them, so I bought her a couple more pairs. Every time I saw her, she would have on one of her favorite Easy Spirit shoes. As time went by mom's shoes started wearing out yet I could not get her to part with them. We would go shopping, looking for Easy Spirit tennis shoe mules with a strap but only find ones without a strap. Mom felt she needed a strap; she was afraid her shoe would fall off. Try as I might, she refused to fall in love with any other style of shoes, she only wanted her Easy Spirit tennis shoe mules with a strap. 

By this time mom was 90 years old, in the early stages of dementia and not too steady on her feet anymore, in fact she used a wheelchair if she had to travel any distance. Her shoes were so bad that I knew I had to get her some kind of new shoes. I thought if I buy her a pair of shoes, she'll be fine, she'll learn to love them. Boy was I wrong. I bought a pair of Easy Spirit regular tennis style shoes in her favorite color blue. I dropped off her new shoes, she acted as if they were fine, yet I don't think she realized I would be taking her other shoes. Thank goodness I didn't throw them away. A few days went by, and my daddy called saying mom wouldn't wear her new shoes, she was trying to go everywhere barefoot.  My parents were living at an assisted living facility at the time, so it wasn't like she was going outside but it wasn't good that she wouldn't wear her new shoes.

I went over to have a discussion with mom about wearing the new shoes and that didn't go well. It was as if I was talking to 5-year-old instead of a 90-year-old ~ 'I want my shoes back!' was all she kept saying and there was nothing I could do to change her mind. I knew that the soles of her shoes were worn out and could cause her to fall so I didn't want to leave her with the old shoes. So, I told her I would find her another pair of shoes just like the ones she loves if she would just wear her new shoes till, I found them. Easier said than done. Mom agreed to wear shoes and she gave me 2 weeks to find her shoes. 

I hit all the stores in search of Easy Spirit tennis shoe mules with a strap ~ no luck. I am not the greatest when it comes to online searching, but I tried to no avail. Time was ticking away, and I knew I had to come up with those shoes, so I asked my hubby to assist in the search for mom's shoes. It was looking grim there for a while then one day my hubby tells me he found a pair of Easy Spirit tennis shoe mules with a strap in blue-purple coloring and they were in her size. I told him to buy them I didn't care how much that cost, getting those shoes for mom was going to be priceless!

With the correct Easy Spirit tennis shoe mules with a strap in hand we go over to deliver them to mom. She was over the moon with her new shoes and couldn't thank my hubby enough, she even had tears in her eyes. Mom loved her shoes and that was all that mattered. Sitting in her wheelchair mom would raise her foot and share the story ... 'Look at my shoes, don't you think they're pretty, my son-in-law found them for me, he loves me.' 😊

                                                    Peace & Love