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I stood quickly and tried to rush to
full-length mirror across bedroom, but before I could catch a glimpse of their magnificence on ends of my skinny chicken legs, I tripped and twisted my ankle.
I must have let out a yelp, signally my grandmother, because suddenly I could hear her wooden clogs clacking down tile hallway. I scrambled to my feet and tried to get treasure back to its hiding place.
When door opened I spun around and my face gave away my transgression. I began to explain that I just happened to find these shoes and told her they were most beautiful things I had ever seen.
She took box into her hands like a lost lover and began caressing lid. She told me she had bought them when she was in her thirties. My mother and aunt were just children and they didn't have a lot of money, but when my grandmother spotted them in a little shop somewhere in San Francisco, she was smitten.
She never went anywhere dressy enough to warrant wearing such beautiful shoes and she didn't own anything that would match their splendor. But she knew she had to have them, so she put a little bit of money down on them that day and told clerk to hold them for her. She made trip back into city each week to deposit more money until she could take them home with her.
But I didn’t understand. These shoes were over twenty years old and yet they were still brand new, unblemished. Why, if she loved them so much did she never wear them? She said she kept them hidden away for a special occasion, but admitted that every time she thought about wearing them she said she feared people would think she was frivolous and impractical, so they laid unworn, prisoners to her fear.
What did these words, “frivolous” and "impractical" really mean and why would they cause a grown woman such fear?
When I was forty, my grandmother passed away and as her children and grandchildren divided her jewelry and china, only thing I asked for was gold and red box in very back corner of her bedroom closet.
It is time to head out for lunch and I am reminded that some love affairs grow stronger over time. I gather my purse and as turn off my computer I have an overwhelming feeling of power and fearlessness. I am going out into world frivolous and impractical!
© Gina Schreck is the “Cheerman of the Bored” and she helps people Reconnect with What Matters Most! She is the author of several books, including Inside Out Success: Reconnecting with What Matters Most, and Marriage Mechanics: A Tune Up for the Highway of Love! She speaks to organizations that want to improve relationships from the inside out. To contact Gina, call 303-978-0887 or check out her website at http://www.schrecktalk.com/
