It was Monday, right after the “Calculus End of Semester Exam”..

Off we went, on a mission…

To find …..

SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES SHOES

It was Wina’s idea at first, but I did definitely agree with that because for a long time I’ve been wanting to buy new shoes. Pretty new shoes! Just to let you know, I’m not like a reincarnation of Imelda Marcos because I don’t actually have a lot of shoes, I just had a strong will to buy new shoes at that time.

Not all of us went though (what I meant by all of us is the usual six, or what people usually know as Tante2 + Mami). It was only Wina, Hafni and I who went.

I had a mission of my own, it was to find: one colored pair, one black pair, and one white pair.

So then three of us went wandering, searching, bargaining and at the end..

1. Hafni didn’t buy anything since she only came to accompany me and Wina

2. Wina bought a pair of cute maroon peep-toe shoes that I also almost bought in a different colour

3. Myself, I got:

a. A pair of peep-toe shiny white shoes with little bows

b. A pair of red shoes with bronze linings and bows

I am satisfied because finally, I got a pair of red shoes. Just to let you know, I actually had wanted to buy a pair of red shoes for a long time (really). It was like five months ago that I had the urge to buy a pair, but I have forgotten about it for quite a while until now. At that time in which I had the urge to buy a pair of red shoes, colorful shoes hasn’t been the trend so it’s actually quite hard to find red shoes. However, I found a pair of shiny red shoes at PVJ mall which I fell in love with. I liked the but the person who was with me said to me (while I was trying them on) that the color of the shoes are too, umm, STRIKING perhaps – not in a good way (sight!!). So then as a result of me being a person who listen to people’s suggestions too much (and hey I’m a girl so I guess I have this womanly intuition in me to follow guys’ suggestions), forgot about that particular pair of shoes. And since then, also forgot my urge of buying a pair of red shoes.. until that day I finally bought one.

What is with a pair of red shoes? I am not Prilla, so definitely red isn’t my color, I don’t have many red clothes or bags (I’m more into pink I guess). However, I love red shoes just how I love my red headband and for a while I actually think that red can go with any color (where did I get that idea, I wonder).

The truth is that, every time I see red shoes, I always get reminded the story titled “The Red Shoes” by Hans Christian Andersen. Does any of you remember this story? You know, about a girl named Karen. Well if I summarize it, she wasn’t suppose to buy any red shoes but she bought a pair and when she wore those shoes, her feet couldn’t stop dancing and dancing and dancing.. until finally she got both of her cursed feet to be chopped off. Well, it’s not a typical child story I guess but remember Little Mermaid? How many fairy-tales actually allow the main character ended up not being happy herself because she sacrificed her life and love for the happiness of others (Even though at the end Disney has modified the story into a happy ending but let’s forget about that)? Hans Christian Andersen wrote the most humanly fairy tales and that’s the reason I love his works.

What I see in this story is that, the red shoes became some kind of “guilty pleasure”. Karen was not supposed to buy red shoes, but she followed her desire, and at the end she ended up cursed.( Gee, what a hard moral to put in a story for children.) Red shoes have become the symbol of guilty pleasure, desire, or even lust. I actually want to go on more about my analysis on this story but I kinda want to save it for later.

Back to my case, so yeah, I don’t love my red shoes because of the guilty pleasure, or desire, or lust that came along with it. I love them because the feeling of playful and carefree they give me when I wear them. I have only worn them once, today, for the first time, and they do make me feel like dancing or spinning around every time I walk (well that non-stop dancing part in the story wasn’t wrong).

So yeah, I <3 my red shoes!