Shoe Whore

I often wonder why I subject myself to sheer torture, not once, but twice. Allow me to share about my day yesterday.

It was a beautiful day in Philly and since I had a court hearing that morning I figured that I better look like a professional instead of looking like a college student who is still purchasing their apparel from the local Goodwill Thrift Store. Now don't get the wrong idea here. I think secondhand shops are great, especially for those yearly Halloween Costumes and for those great finds such as a pair of vintage jeans......but I digress. Somehow I managed to once again veer off -topic. There is a point to this entry. So I decide to dress a little bit more "professional" than my usual "college student wannabee look" and so I donned a nice white button up three quarter length blouse and a grey mid-length A-line skirt. To top off my "professional" look, I decided to try and look cute and slip on a pair of Anne Klein 2.5 inch mules. I felt so grown up. Since the courthouse is about a 15 minute walk away from our downtown office, I decided to park at the office parking lot and walk. The weather was nothing short of wonderful - blue skies and not a cloud in view. Of course because of the beautiful weather one would think that my walk to the courthouse yesterday morning could be described as pleasant, right? WRONG! About half-way to the courthouse my feet started to feel uncomfortable and oddly enough, and I kid you not, it appeared as though my feet decided to expand on their own volition. By the time I arrived at the courthouse, my feet were in so much pain that I was tempted to hobble down to Hahnemann University Hospital which is about a block from the court house and beg the doctors to amputate both feet in order to relieve me from the excruciating pain that I was experiencing. Fortunately, since my supervisor was also at the same court hearing and parked in the parking lot next to the courthouse. She took pity on me and kindly drove me back to the office once the court hearing was over. When I finally took off my heels after I arrived home last night, I could have sworn that I heard my feet breath a sigh of relief. The blisters that formed on my feet would have made a marathoner proud.

But wait. My shoe saga doesn't end there. Today I decided that I wanted to look cute again and so once again I donned another pair of heels - these ones are about 3 inches tall. These heels are my "sit and look cute" heels. I assumed that I would be in the office for most of the day and so I figured that my feet would be safe. Well, after the training I attended this morning, a group of us decided to walk over to the nearest Subway for lunch from our office. I figured that my feet would be okay walking on these particular heels because I surmised that it would only be about a five minute walk from the office. Wrong. It was a fifteen minute walk.

I am a glutton for punishment.

Conclusion: The 'Rent's Visit

My heartfelt apologies go out to my loyal audience (you know who you are!) for my lack of entries over this last week. It was a full-packed week with the 'rents. Was it only a week ago today that we were exploring New York City? It's daunting to see how time flies by so quickly. Anyways, New York City with the 'rents was, let's say, pretty intense. We took the train out to Penn Station and when we exited from the station, I think my mom went into a state of shock. There were people and cars everywhere and mom went into sensory overload. Later on in the hotel room, I overheard her sharing with my aunt on the phone how scared she was when she arrived into the city - the sea of people and cars was nothing short of overwhelming for her. All I can say is, it's a good thing they came in the spring instead of the summer. I think mom would get eaten alive at the Big Apple in the summer time. The subway was an experience for mom and dad. Since the city is so big, the 'rents assumed that it would take a long time to get from one place to the other. As we travelled by subway to various parts of the city, dad kept asking me how many hours it would take for us to get from Times Square to Battery Park. My response? "Ummm, yeah...... dad? Only about 3 minutes." But hours?????? It was amusing to see the 'rents like wide-eyed little children experiencing an amusement park for the very first time. So we did as much of the tourist thing in NYC - Liberty Island, Canal Street, Chinatown, Ground Zero, Times Square, Central Park, shopped on Fifth Avenue, Rockefellar Center, and coffee at the Starbucks located inside Trump Towers. Mom and dad had a comical moment, however, when we decided on a pitt stop at The Plaza, an incredibly bougie hotel which probably charges more than one month of my social worker's salary. Anyways, I've been to The Plaza quite a few times to use their rest rooms because it's the only free thing that I am able to use there. So the 'rents decided to do their business in the restroom, however, what they did not expect was a maid/butler in the bathroom, turning on the faucets for them, squirting soap on their hands and handing them the paper towel. Dad stated that he was surprised that the bathroom butler did not tap for him. My response? I just rolled my eyes at him.

So Washington, DC was on the next agenda with the 'rents. We left early Friday morning and stayed until Saturday afternoon. Dad was thrilled to be in the nation's capital, being the political junkie and history buff that he is. Of course, we had to visit every memorial erected in DC. Mom fell in love with the Tidal Basin's scenery while dad was in his element in DC. I think I learned more about American history during the two days in DC with dad, than the two semesters of American History classes I took in college. Go figure.

The visit with the 'rents was wonderful and we shared many laughs, however, spending all that time together was intense and there were times of frustration - how could there not be? I dropped off the 'rents at the airport this past Monday for their flight back to the west coast. Life for me has returned to normalcy, the tension and stress has eased up and I am back to my regular routine. But here's the thing, why do I feel so empty all of a sudden?