Bring on the Party, I Got My Shoes

My mom likes to tell the story of my first pair of "big girl dress-up party shoes." Apparently they were a pair of Stride Rite white patent leather Mary Janes, kind of like these.

With her still fresh-out-of-Boston accent, she was excitedly telling a friend all about my new party shoes. How would "party shoes" sound with such an accent? Well, imagine the way Matt Damon pronounced the name of the 2006 movie he starred in, "The Departed." Or the name of the baseball stadium where the Red Sox play, Fenway Park. Or the prototypical statement often associated with Boston, "Pahk the Cah in the Hah-vud Yahd." So yes, the friend was baffled and asked my mom why I needed special shoes to go to the bathroom!

So any dress-up shoes, from then on, have always been thought of as "potty shoes." And I never imagined that I would ever again have a pair of white patent leather potty shoes. But yesterday, which just happened to be "Small Business Saturday," I went to my local bike shop to make the long-overdue purchase of new cycling shoes. The third pair I tried on fit perfectly, but I almost needed a pair of sunglasses to dampen the glare of the white patent leather trim on the toe, straps and heel cup!

I grinned to myself as I purchased them and mentally labeled them my new "potty shoes." Who knew my view of party shoe and definition of party would evolve to this?!

And it's fitting too. Most of my bike rides feature at least one happy or celebratory exclamation of "Woohoo!" There aren't many cycling days left this year, but I'm anticipating a few more during which I'll scuff up these new, shiny white beauties. Pah-ty ON!