The Red Shoe Nation lives in each of us, it is that place in our spirit, where we still have dreams we are chasing, longings we want to fulfill and things left to do in this life, that no matter what, we WILL make happen! The red shoes are always right there in front of us, reminding us, those things are still waiting, still ready to become a reality.

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It began decades ago with my first purchase of a pair of red shoes at age 27. At the time, they were the most expensive shoes I had ever owned, $25.97, including tax. Back then, that was a tidy sum to be spending on a pair of shoes that weren't "sensible", as I was told. Sensible meaning, not beige or black and they wouldn't go with anything and where was I going to wear them anyway, who wears red shoes, except with a red dress, and no one was doing that!

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The answer was, I wore them everywhere, with everything and they changed who I was!

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The red shoes got noticed, they made me feel seen and more present in my own life at a time I felt very much invisible to the rest of the world. In some odd way, they gave me a calm sense of being able to do anything, of having strength and power that I certainly didn't have in reality at that time.

 

I learned that just like the most famous red shoes in history, the Ruby Slippers in the Wizard of Oz, my red shoes were magical for me and just as Glinda, the Good Witch, told Dorothy at the end of the movie, I had always had the power to do the things I wanted to do, I just had to discover it for myself! And I did. To this day, red shoes are a part of my personality, my trademark and now my brand.

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I was once told by my beautiful daughter that she expected to bury me in red shoes.

Sadly, unexpectedly, I buried her first.

 

The spirit of my daughter is always close to me, especially when I wear red shoes. It's a feeling, an attitude of standing in your own power, a different way of looking at life, of never giving up, of always knowing who you are and what you want and accepting nothing less. A reminder of how fast time and life pass by and how we have to love fiercely, forgive deeply, always believe in the wonder of our dreams, always believe in the power within us to achieve whatever we decide to, and to always be aware of our ability to bring real love, kindness, joy, happiness and true healing to this world and to those around us while we are here, while there is still time!

 

All of that, from a pair of red shoes... 

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