Me and Marlene
Yesterday involved looking for shoes. You may remember my turmoil a couple of weeks ago. I was under the impression I have rather large and wide feet. I can’t just walk into any shoe store and find shoes easily. I expressed dismay about finding shoes and one of my readers, also a local, Marlene, reached out on Facebook and offered to take me to Brown’s Shoes in Fort Dodge and help me find the perfect shoe. This is a story about meeting online, and then meeting in real life and solving a problem. #smalltowncool
First a little clarification. There is no shoe store in Webster City, or we would have started there. Shopko does carry shoes – and I bought my snow boots there. My gym shoes are from Vionic Shoes, they have sent me shoes to try and have worked closely with me until we found the perfect fit and I love their gym shoes. I needed every day shoes that I can wear in the winter that keep my feet warm and look good. Fort Dodge is the next town over, and if you’re not familiar with Brown’s Shoes – you might want to check them out.
Carson and I
Marlene picked me up at 10:30 am and off we went. Carson, our lovely assistant, first showed us a s size 12 WW in SAS shoes. It was lovely soft leather and waayyy too big. Go figure. We measured and I need a womens 12 wide or a mens 10.5 medium. Of course these sizes will vary depending on the brand, material and cut. This is exactly why I can’t order online! There were no women’s size 12 in stock – no surprise there. They would be happy to order in something for me. However I had my heart set on walking out with new shoes.
So we headed over to the men’s shoes. We looked at some dress shoes. While perfectly lovely, it was quite obvious they were men’s dress shoes. That wasn’t going to work. Then I saw the Merrills. Many years ago, in preparation for a trip to Alaska I was in a REI store in North Carolina and had bought a pair of Merrills. I wore them until they literally died on my feet. I saw a pair that would function as a beautiful unisex shoe and asked Carson to bring out a 10.5. Too big! So we went for a 10. Medium. Which fit perfectly. They only came in brown.
I bought them. And ordered a pair in black.
Because honey if you find a perfect fit, get them in another color too.