Last night I attended the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce monthly mixer, aptly titled "Noche de Vaqueros," which is Spanish for "cowboy night." Attendees were encouraged to wear cowboy attire, which is standard for many Tucson residents even when they don't have a themed event to attend. Most people there were in business attire because they came straight from work, but some folks--myself included--got into the spirit with some great-looking boots.
Just the fact that I have cowboy boots and can actually wear them is a HUGE deal. That may seem odd to "normal" people, but once again, please bear with me. Many years ago when I was healthy, I wore stiletto heels all the time and pretty much everywhere. I spent a LOT of money on heels by designers like Manolo Blahnik and Guiseppe Zanotti. Yep, I was "that girl," thrilled with the style espoused by shows like Sex in the City. But then MS came to visit my body, and by roughly 2006, wearing high heels was a thing of the past. To this day, it's still one of the losses caused by my MS that I mourn the most. It sounds like a superficial and vain thing; why don't I miss as much my ability to play volleyball, or snow ski, or swim? (As a side note, I will NEVER miss the ability to run because I always sucked at it and thoroughly hate it.)
For you men out there, few things scream femininity like wearing high heels. Long hair and makeup are two other examples, but you know how sexy a great pair of heels can make a woman look, and for us women (pain and discomfort aside), they generally make us feel pretty darn sexy. These days, I'm relegated to the arduous task of endlessly trying to find pairs of ballet slippers and other flats that (a) will stay on my feet when I walk, (b) allow me to walk safely, and (c) don't make me look like a 39 year-old grandmother. For me anyway, I can manage to feel professional in some of my nicer shoes, and maybe even cute. But sexy? Far from it.
Enter the cowboy boot. When my husband and I drove from the St Louis area to Tucson for our military move in June 2013, we stopped one night in Amarillo, Texas. Right next to our hotel was an enormous boot store that had a good reputation for quality and selection. We figured, where better to buy a good pair of cowboy boots than in Amarillo? I was skeptical that I'd be able to find something that worked for me, given my issues with shoes, but my husband was excited, so I tried to be optimistic.
To say the selection was overwhelming is putting it mildly. Fortunately, it was a slow night, and my husband and I had the full attention of two very nice sales assistants who made it their mission to fit us with the perfect pair of boots. I told my assistant exactly what I needed: a low heel, a snug fit, and a toe that was short enough that it wouldn't catch on the ground when I walked. Weird requirements for sure, but he swore up and down he had heard much weirder requests. I chose to believe him.After about an hour, we were at the checkout counter with the perfect boots. My assistant found me a pair that had these amazing insoles that made the inside of the boots feel like running shoes. The heels were about an inch high, which is by far the highest heel of any shoe I own, but they were wide and didn't make me teeter or lose my balance. And here's the little unexpected miracle of these cowboy boots: because boots are stiff, they naturally kept my feet and lower legs in a perfect L-shape, which prevented my right foot from dropping and dragging on the ground! My WalkAide electrical stimulator helps with this anyway, but I was just floored at how easy it was to walk in boots I thought would forever be off-limits.
So last night, I donned my favorite pair of Lucky Brand boot-cut jeans, my favorite white dress shirt, and my Ariat leather cowboy boots for Noche de Vaqueros. And you know what? I did feel sexy (my husband confirmed I looked that way after I got home)...and normal.
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