“A Shoe Story”

“Give a girls the right shoes and she can conquer the world.” - Marilyn Monroe (VII)

If you were to write your life’s story, how would you label each chapter? What if you told your story by the shoes you wore? How would that look? 

Buster Browns. Keds. Dr. Scholl’s. Cherokee. 

I might have had a small shoe fetish, when I was working, but nowhere near what my daughter-in-law’s collection. She could give the characters in this novel a run for their money. Suffice to say, shoes complete me, just as they did Esme.

But, are shoes enough? Navigating a troubled past. Trying to pick up where you left off seven years earlier…is that possible? Are you the same person you were then? How does the plan change as your understanding of the past changes? How do you let go, and reach for the future with both hands? Is love possible?

Everyone is entitled to a “happily-ever-after” ending…so what shoes do you wear?

“A Girl Returned”

“I was an orphan with too many living mothers.” (109)

Arminata = the one who was returned

1975. Italy. I couldn’t help thinking this was set a century earlier. Who gives away a baby to someone else to raise? A distant relative? Without adoption? Stranger still, who returns that child, like a dress that didn’t fit?

Making connections with an old/new family. Sorting through the past to find what caused such a disruption in your life. Coming to terms with the reality of your situation. Rising above the chaos. Striving to make sense of it all.

Finding that love comes when you open your heart. Looking to the future, not just for yourself but for the sister you never knew you had. Bouncing between two very different lives. Racing toward the “happily-ever-after” you so deserve.

“Good For You”

Control. Planning. Obsessive? Broken. Patterns. Chance. Faith. Heartbreak.

Finding ones path in life is never easy. Our past clouds and confuses our reality. Nature vs. nurture. How much of what we experienced as children continues to influence our adulthood? How do we overcome the past? How do we learn to trust ourselves, let alone others?

Lifelines. Love. 

The path we construct, may not end up being the path we take. What if there is a different way? How do we create a life from the broken pieces? Where will our future lie? Will we obtain the happiness we desire and deserve? Can there be a “happily-ever-after”?