Spectator Pumps at the North Pole

Even when spending a day at the North Pole visiting Santa Claus in the summertime my mother wore spectator pumps with a good dress. Of course back then women didn't wear jeans or pants but  if they had, I don't think my mother would have followed the crowd. She even dressed me in fancy shoes and a fancy dress that day. I see I have a Band-Aid on one of my knees so the tomboy in me still showed. I'm sure Santa Claus was impressed. My mother loved shoes. Lucky for her, one of my uncles owned a shoe store. Her closet was full of shoe boxes. Most contained high heels. She had about every style and every color. Even with a shoe store in the family I never cared much about shoes. Barefoot was my favorite way to go. My mother would tell anyone who would listen how I'd run outside without anything on my feet even in the winter. I think it had to do with shoes making me feel confined. That hasn't changed. I didn't inherit the shoe fanatic gene. I don't go shopping for shoes in all the stores. When I need a pair I can pick them out in minutes. Stores stifle me. The bigger the store-the more stifling they become. Once when in Macy's in New York City I was looking for a pair of jeans to bring home to my daughter. There were floors of jeans. I left empty handed.

Besides my mother's shoes catching my eye, I wonder what we were talking about when this picture was taken. I don't remember that day. I do remember how I'd sit still in the kitchen of the house beside the lane while my mother would French-braid my hair. Once braided, it stayed in place for a few days.

 I've been back to the North Pole with my children. I noticed mothers talking to and walking along with daughters but I never did see a mother as beautifully dressed as mine. None were wearing spectator pumps and a fancy dress, sitting next to a little girl in French braids with a Band-Aid on her knee.