Well, that’s one way to lose these walking blues

For me, searching for comfort sandals has been like Internet dating.

Perhaps you have never really had to search for comfort sandals. Maybe you found your comfort sandals in college or grad school, or in your neighborhood, and stuck with them and they still work for you.

Me, not so much. I had some and eventually got tired of them and moved on and now sometimes I look back fondly.

It didn't used to be this hard. When I was younger I bought all kinds of adorable shoes with pointy toes and spiky heels and what-have-you and tromped all over cities around the globe. I tried shoes on and purchased them with nary a thought of compatibility.

No longer. Now my feet are particular. One friend suggested that my expectations are too high. I cannot expect to do the kind of walking that I do in sandals.

But I figured, eventually I met Nick on Match.com. I could find myself some sandals.

I've ordered and returned a ridiculous number of shoes. And these comfort sandals? They are not cheap. At some point Nick got a call from our credit card company saying that there had just been an uncharacteristically big charge at Zappos, and was he aware of this?

Heh.

He now gets an alert every time our card is used in a not-in-person transaction.

I ended up sending them all back. I thanked them and I boxed them up, and then I stuck them back in their boxes and that was that.

Nick is sick of talking about this. The other day I was all, yes, OK, I will have some sexytime with you. But only if we can talk about shoes afterwards.

The romance, it flourishes.

Anyway, because some of you like to talk shoes and aren't asking for sex, here's the story.

I loved these gladiators, but they were not my shoe. Perhaps they are yours?

The gladiators are made by Naot, and I love how they look. The soles feel magical. They are soft leather and inviting and delightful. But the front is too wide for me, and as such, rubbed the sides of my toes.

The ugly-cute fuchsia shoes are made by Wolky, a Dutch company. I love the look of these shoes, and they have a really thick sole and this comfortable liner.

Shockingly, the fuchsia didn't feel like it would go with enough things. I know, I know.

But I found a turquoise pair on super sale at Sierra Trading, so I ordered them. They felt good all around, so I boldly/foolishly wore them on a Kindergarten field trip, and they rubbed the top of my big toe and the side of my little toe. I was surprised because you can adjust them in three places.

Betty decided she wanted them. So they are now hers.

I also ordered another pair of Naots (also too loose) and these Born shoes, which I loved but which also had way too much room around the front of my foot.

It was getting demoralizing, you know, because I was thinking that I was just too picky. I was asking for too much. Other people could find their pair, and walk around totally happy.

What was my problem? Just like in dating, friends had begun to suggest that my standards were too high.

I really was starting to wonder what was wrong with me and my princess and the pea feet.

And then I went to Comfort One. And they measured my feet on this infrared scanner thing. Here's what turns out to be my problem: I have very high arches. I have very small feet. There are specific and actual reasons this is difficult! (Also, I have this weirdly small little toe, which makes it hard to buy strappy sandals because it likes to poke out all, hello! Which is uncomfortable.)

So even if Nick and I get divorced and I desperately need money, clearly I cannot count on foot prostitution as my fallback career.

Anyway, here's what it's come to. I got these Dansko sandals, and I love how they look and they feel great, although they do bug a little if I walk a lot. I will have to put moleskin in them.

But the soles are soft and squishy and the  bottoms are light. I think someone (Laura?) recommended this exact pair! I didn't really like this year's colors but found these from last year (and much cheaper!) at 6pm.com. They also have a lovely blue. So it all worked out!

I may also have gotten a little carried away with Tevas. I got two pairs.

Shockingly, the higher ones, which I think you need to see with an outfit to get the fabulousness, are more comfortable.They have leather straps that don't rub.

So many inches taller! So great!

Really, it's so nice to know it's not me. I mean, it is me.

But it's also them.