So the other day I ended up in a quiet comic situation. I was walking down Nicollet Mall Downtown Minneapolis, when my shoe broke. I am talking about my ALDO sandal/flip-flop in white. It’s almost broken before, back when I was in Russia, the strap that went around my toe started ripping off, back then I just super glued it. This time it was all way more serious, the strap that goes in between my toes fell off. I was right by the Y when it all happened. And my first thought was to call Sam and tell him to meet me there. But the benches by the Y is where a lot of homeless people stick around… So I kept walking. Adding insult to my shoe injury was some kid (teenager) who was trying to recruit people to sign up to donate for some charity, and called me a “sir”. Dear America, please teach your children about genders.

Lucky for me, Target was only a few blocks away and I got some gold colored sandals on clearance there. There are always has good deals there, and some of the clothes are super cute, I just don’t think they survive the washer/dryer torture very well.

It wasn’t the first time I walked around barefoot. A couple weeks ago Sam and I were going to our first pre-marital counseling session, and I had a few very painful blisters, so I took the flip-flops off, and on I went. The only important rule that you need to remember when walking barefoot – watch out for glass and other sharp objects. I remember back a couple years ago when I was still an Au Pair, I went to meet my second family, it rained really hard and it was safer to walk around barefoot, than slip and fall in my shoes. If I walked around barefoot in Manhattan, I can do it anywhere (Maybe not in Russia

Then I remembered the bare walking shoes:

Those were (and probably still are) a huge hit. I once met a woman at the dog run by AMNH, who told me all about the benefits of those shoes. I don’t know whether I will ever have the guts to wear those, because they don’t make that great of a fashion statement, and I will always prefer my heels and wedges.

But there are people out there who go all the way – they walk barefoot, drive their cars barefoot, and do everything else barefoot (I imagine!). I once met a guy in NYC who did all that (in November!). He goes barefoot, but he only several times a year.

Maybe one day I will be willing to do the barefoot thing, but I will have to move somewhere warmer than Minnesota

Here are some charities that provide shoes to people for whom barefooting isn’t an option:

1. Soles for Souls
http://www.soles4souls.org/
2. Tom’s
http://www.toms.com/
3. Shoes to Share
http://www.shoes2share.com/

Of course there are many many other ones. I know that a lot of charity organizations donate shoes every once in a while. Interestingly enough, when we in the Western world want to take our shoes off and go barefoot, the rest of the world wants to put some shoes on!