Suitcases for shoes….

We all know that old [Forrest Gump] adage that says you can tell a lot about a person by the shoes she wears. A relatively obvious corollary is that of volume – HOW MANY shoes she has. Being from San Diego, I am painfully aware of the primary statement; I have long held contempt for men who wear slide-sandals, or really any other kind of man-sandal [mandal], for that matter. Though San Diego is a very laid-back place, there are very strict unwritten rules for appropriate footwear, which, if broken, allow for a large amount of judgment on the part of those of us who subscribe to the no-mandal doctrine.

I never imagined, however, that the second statement might apply to me. Yes, I have a certain style; yes, I tend to have more clothes than I need (who doesn’t); but I’m a pretty low-maintenance woman. I don’t often go shopping, I don’t ascribe a lot of value to brand names, and I don’t have shoes that I don’t wear.

Or so I believed….

Today I started sorting and packing my clothes in preparation for the trip, going through to see if there was anything that I could sell or give to Goodwill to make the load lighter. The closet and the dresser were simple tasks; after all, I’d already done a good deal of packing of the clothes before thanksgiving. As I got to the bottom of the closet, however, it became a bit like a treasure hunt. I have a box to hold handbags; this is one of my admitted weaknesses. As I began to go through them, I actually discovered bags and purses that I haven’t used since college. COLLEGE. Each layer revealed a new era in my history, beginning with my current uber-hipness, upheld by simple yet functional [“smart and attractive”] shoulder bags that I acquired at the beginning of grad school. These top two thicker horizons were underlain with a sprinkling of decorative bags [ie: silk Chinese take-out shaped clutch] that I’ve never used, but were gifts so I’ve held on to them. As these were removed one by one, however, I encountered an unexpected base to the bag formation: the assortment of tiny purses I used in college. I used to carry a small “armpit purse” every day in college. I can’t believe it myself – I’m pretty sure I can fit ten of those in the bag I use every day today. Naturally, they go in the “buffalo exchange” pile.

What was most surprising to me, however, was what was hidden under the bags….

I like shoes. We all know this. I’m currently [publicly] panicking about having to wear ugly shoes in order to survive a winter with all of my toes. I currently have +/- 12 pair of shoes sitting right next to my front door, having worn them each at least once in the past two weeks. I went through the remaining shoes hanging in the canvas holder in my closet, and decided to keep two pair and put four pair in the “buffalo exchange” pile. There were even 3 pair that were so thrashed I had to throw them away. I haven’t been doing the math, but that’s a lot of shoes. And then I moved the handbags.

I opened the little canvas storage box under the lowest layer of handbags, and, OMFG, there are those loafers I wore for halloween two years ago. I love those shoes – I should keep them. Oh, and hey, there are the strappy platforms that Tony helped me pick out! Forgot about those – they should go in the shoe rack now that there’s room. Hey, another box! I had no idea I had this much room in my closet. What’s in here – Holy Crap I Forgot All About These Blue Heels! I should wear them before I move. What pretty shoes!

This internal monologue went on quite a bit longer, until I finally had the closet cleared and there were no more places for shoes to hide. I ended up with five more pair that I wanted to keep, not counting those that I’m getting rid of. What am I going to do with all of these shoes?

Having some kind of emotional attachment to each pair that I didn’t immediately decide to get rid of, the idea of letting SOMEONE ELSE wear my shoes [I could totally find an outfit for them] is just unbearable. The only solution is to find room for them on the move. The biggest challenge, then, is that I’ve decided to limit myself to two [2] large suitcases for the flight east. Even when the shoes that are inappropriate for winter [read: lead to missing toes] are factored out of the spatial equation, it’s looking as though one of those suitcases will be exclusively for shoes. SHOES. When I account for all the matching scarf/hat/gloves sets that I found today [I’ve lived in coastal California my entire life], I don’t know how I’ll have room for any real clothes.

You can survive a winter in Toronto wearing only a fancy coat, some pretty boots, and matching scarf/hat/glove set, right? I should probably bring some underwear too….