Shoe Personality of the Week: 7/11/2011

Simplicity.

I think it’s a word I’ve used here before. It’s also a word that’s often applied to me. Things appear simplistic. My furniture, though unique (enough) is simple, while making a statement about what’s important to me…including simplicity. My car, Sweet Magnolia, is not the flossy mobile that I wanted but wound up being the vehicle that spoke the loudest to me when I was searching for my solution to the B2 bus line. My look, how I present myself, is simple. I love signature everything but I am but a teacher. My purse strings are tight but I still manage not to look destitute, having a style clearly my own but not 1 that requires a great deal of money, time or work. Simple.

I prefer things to be simple. I prefer my drama to come on big screens or on the pages of books & have absolutely NO relation to my actual life. Something about that opposes the part of me that is story chaser & teller. I suppose there has to be a certain amount of drama for a story to be interesting. That’s still outside of me, & the rest is made up for with imagination. However, I’ve found that little is necessary when recounting real life situations. Life is hilarious!!

The simple construction of this gladiator sandal speaks to me. It almost IS me. It’s so very plain & yet noteworthy at the same time. I could be wrong, but that’s how I see myself. It also looks sturdy. That’s me too. I’m certainly built Ford tough, bouncing back from things that in the moment feel like they will be my emotional demise. Am I unique in this? Not at all, but our experiences are relative. Our tragedies & triumphs don’t fit into neat columns for review by committee.

If I had to go through & do a qualitative & quantitative account of my life, I think I can say with all honesty that I’d be proud of both sides of the coin. Some live in a state of regret or constant wishing. I have been able to successfully make things happen for me, placing me in the exact moment in time I belong in. A skill? I think so. Even if it isn’t, I can’t turn my nose up at the almost perfection of it, even including those things I consider to be foul. I Am because It Was. Have I ever been proposed to by a man dressed as a knight on a horse? No, but I have been chosen more than once as That Girl that He wanted to spend his life with. Have I had babies of my own? No, but I have been witness to the birth of the love of my Life & ushered many children through many different kinds of births. Have I ever had my name written in the sky? No, but I have written it in the sand on foreign shores. I’ve loved spectacularly & been loved in turn; held tightly; learned much; cried many tears that included joyful ones; had many friends; known great loss & great gains; climbed mountains & won many races. I have tended literal & figurative gardens & know the rewards of both. I have read many books & logged many words on paper, computer files, & even here in this space. I have seen fireworks on the horizon on a day not related to standard celebration & felt the world was truly mine.

You may look in my window & see all my simple furniture or catch me out in my simple car wearing my simple clothes & assume that my Life is small. I try not to do a lot of arguing these days, but I would definitely have to argue you down on that one. Simple & small are NOT synonymous.

Watch me move.