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Foot Binding

I have worn a size 12 shoe since high school. No matter how snug the shoe was, if I liked it, and if it was a size 12, that's what I bought.

Then, about a year ago, I had my first experience with gout. Boy is that painful. Even then, it never dawned on me that moving up in shoe size might be a good idea.

Last week I went to a shoe store that still uses salespeople -- ones that still measure your feet. And I learned sometime. In length, my foot is indeed a 12. But other parts of my foot measure out to 13.

The salesperson said I might be binding my feet. That image stuck with me, and I decided to buy a size 13 as a test.

So far, so good. I'm now in the process of throwing out all of my "snug" size 12's. Don't ever get too attached to a number.

Comments

  1. There seems to be surge in shoe companies putting more specialized soles in for comfort. I wear a 13 and just ordered some new dress shoes (from the JC Penney catalog) that I could barely get my foot into. That was the first time a 13 was ever too small for me. Upon closer inspection of the shoe, I found it to have more padding in certain places compared to other shoes. I then tried to order a wide size of the same shoe, but they were out. Maybe we should just make the floors at RCTC softer!

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  2. Do you remember that David Letterman used to wear sneakers with his chinos? Make I should bring back that look. Dan, if you and I brought back that look together, we could start a trend... and I'm sure our foot would feel a lot better, too. Function and fashion. :)

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