Behind every fabulous pair of shoes is a great story.
And these shoes have a fantastic story behind them.
About four years ago, on my birthday, Nathan surprised me and told me he was sending me, and my friend, Susie to the Twin Cities, for a week-end girls getaway. He had made reservations at a Hampton Inn for us near a very posh outdoor shopping center. Then he pulled out, what seemed like an enormous wad of cash and told me to spend it all! Well, alrighty then! Have fun shopping, treat Susie to a nice dinner and spend the night at the hotel. Not a problem.
Susie and I drove down to the Cities and had a fabulous week-end perusing the stores. I spent money like water. It was fun! I think it’s the only time in my entire life I’ve ever gone on a serious shopping spree. These shoes came from that shopping trip. I had bought a whole outfit at Coldwater Creek at full price (something I had never done before and will probably never do again) and needed a pair of shoes to go with it. We went into an Aldo to look around, and I just fell in love with these shoes. I love bows, so the bows on the toes of the shoes, sold me.
After shopping all day we had an amazing, relaxing dinner at a really great Italian place, then put our jammies on, crawled into our soft beds and watched “Legally Blonde” on TV. Yup, the perfect girls week-end.
But, little did I know, my birthday surprise wasn’t over. As Susie and I neared home the next day, she had me pull over and took an envelope out of the glove box. In it was a clue that led me on a scavenger hunt to find more clues. First to the swinging bridge in Jay Cooke State Park, then to the overlook at the top of Mile Long Hill and finally to what Nathan said was a “picnic with a few friends at Ron’s house on the river.” When Susie and I pulled up there were cars on both sides of the highway for about a 1/4 of a mile. I totally freaked out. “What is going on!?”
I had just come off of two very difficult years. I had been very sick and had 4 sinus surgeries in those two years. Susie hugged me and told me that this was partly a thank you to all the people who had helped us over the past two years and partly my birthday party to let me know I was loved. Wow! I felt very loved. I was in tears as I pulled in and got out of the van to find about 200 of my closest friends gathered on a perfect August evening in Ron’s backyard on the St. Louis River.
Nathan had done all the work himself; from making the spaghetti, to decorating all the tables with one of my favorite flowers: gladiolas. There were three big cakes, one a carrot cake, my favorite. Everyone brought presents. It was a wonderful, special memory I will cherish forever.
And I think about my husband’s love for me and all of my wonderful friends every time I slip these brown shoes on my feet. That’s a pretty big story behind a little pair of shoes!
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