Tuesday, July 19, 2005

A European Shoe Story

We're back! Time for one quick story before I start laundry.

I was quite proud of the secondhand wardrobe I cobbled together for this trip. In a dusty junk store, I unearthed a wide pair of Elefanten leather sandals for my son--only 50 cents. Comfortable and cute, he wore them everywhere.

One day we took the grandmothers shopping at a chi-chi mall in South Florida, where a mother and grandmother stopped me in a cafe.

"Where did you get your son's shoes? Who makes those sandals?" they exclaimed.

Unsure of the brand's pronunciation, I said, "Well, they're European. I'm not sure exactly where you can find them."

"Oh, yes," the grandmother sighed, rolling her eyes dramatically. "We are SO limited in what we can get here."

My eyes wandered along the galleria's Saks, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus signs. I thought to myself, "Lady, if you only knew...."

5 comments:

Paul Perkins said...

Just came across our blog randomly, looks awesome! Maybe keep in touch? P :-)

Mrs. Happy Housewife said...

Welcome back! You made me think of the time recently when I was wearing a $7 peasant skirt in Starbucks and a group of women just had to know where I got my skirt. First, of course, I had to look down to see what skirt I was wearing. When I answered,"Walmart," they were obviously disappointed. Their loss because it's a totally cute skirt.

Anonymous said...

In high school my mother shopped for several of the teens at my school..boys and girls... at the thrift stores...they would give her a list of sizes and wants in case she ran into what they needed! She really enjoyed it. Even a teen could afford the really cute things everyone was wearing at those prices!

Anonymous said...

Cute story, Meredith. You made me laugh!

Anonymous said...

this story is too hilarious. i have loved finding used elefantens for my sons - not only do the boys love the little elephants on the sides, but they are SO well made and wear beautifully, and mine have gone through 2 boys in addition to the previous owners! of course, i believe they either no longer make them, or no longer sell them new in the US, so i suppose they will get harder to find.