Arrrgh...(followed by discontented, indistinguishable muttering)

Because I am tired of wearing the clunky tennis shoes and the starting-to-fall-apart flip flops that I own, I decided to go shoe shopping.

If any of you are squealing delightedly, then you must not understand. You see...I wear a size 9 wide.

You would think that a person of my somewhat miniature stature would be blessed with dainty little feet, but that is not the case.

With fierce resolve, I parked my car in front of a very large warehouse-type shoe store, thinking, "Surely I'll be able to find something in there." (The place was five times the size of my entire house.)

Inside I trod with something close to a spring in my step.

It was wall to wall shoes with cute samples on display. (I've noticed that the display shoes are usually about a size 6. Unfortunately, even the most delightful looking size sixes look considerably less charming once they are blown up into a size nine.)

Under the samples were boxes and boxes of the available shoes. (I don't need to explain this; you've all been inside a shoe store.)

With hope, I began to scan all the boxes looking for that vital "W" next to the size. I soon realized that very few shoe companies even offer "wide" shoes because there were virtually no "W"s anywhere. I wondered why that would be the case as my frustration grew.

Suddenly, it dawned on me...they don't want me to wear their shoes! They don't want their shoes to be associated with a wide-footed gal such as myself! (You know how "Limited" and "Hurley" clothes only go up to about a size 11 or 13 so that only the trimmer sectors of the high school girls will be wearing them? Well, it's just like that, but with feet. I really think I'm on to something with this...)

Finally, after looking on nearly all the aisles for illusive "W"s, I spotted the closest thing I could find which was a "M/W" which I interpreted as being a "wide" that doesn't really want to admit that it's a "wide" so it implies that it's practically a "medium".

I grabbed a couple of "M/W" marked boxes and a pair of peds and settled onto the little chair provided, preparing myself for disappointment...which came rather quickly.

After returning the shoes to their boxes and stuffing the used peds into my purse (I'm assuming that they didn't want them back), I left with my flops on my feet, trying to focus on the fact that I had just saved upwards of $60.

That night, I related my sorrowful tale to my loving family. Jeff offered to simply make me some shoes by outlining my feet on some tractor tire tread. Thanks, Babe.

He then did something that actually was rather helpful. He went on line and googled "Wide Footed Women's Shoes" and bookmarked one site in particular so that I could peruse their selection at my leisure.

I thought that was rather sweet of him until I realized that I am now a woman who has a "Wide Shoe" site bookmarked on her computer!