Let the Girl Sparkle

Oregon's 'extra rainy' season has begun.  Washing the smell of sun-warmed blackberries back into the earth.  Creating prisms on the leaves of all the trees that are reluctantly turning from green to orange.  Rinsing the red slide at the park and soaking into the barkchips.  The days of sandals are over as little feet tap in puddles from the car to the house.  Alaska's sandals have gotten a good wear this summer as her only shoe for both park playing and being rinsed Saturday night, aided by a toothbrush, for church going.  They have been our summer love.

We went to Payless today to find some closed-toed shoes that may be more practical in the rain and playing on wet playground equipment.  No such luck for a momma on a mission, but Alaska's eyes filled up on pink sparkles.  Cinderella slippers covered in glitter and heart confetti.  They are most definitely not practical.  Too gaudy to wear to church and too sparkly to wear to the playground.

But she loved them.  She let me try them on her in two different sizes and listened patiently as I showed her how to un-do the velcro that keeps them pinned to her feet.  She then proceeded to walk down the isle and pull every pair of pink glitter shoes out of their boxes and try them on.  I am a stubborn shopper, but I do know that when something catches your eye more than once and looks just as glamorous as it did the first time, it's best to follow your instincts and get it.

Alaska does love a good shoe and she's been known to wear other people's shoes around the house and to pull shoes out of boxes at stores to try them on.  However, they have never before been consistently the same shoe.  She was totally entranced by the pink glitter.

As I knelt there, watching her carefully put one shoe on, and then the other before continuing down the isle to the next box of pink sparkles I could either resist and walk out with no shoes since none of them were what I was looking for, or I could let the girl have what her heart desired.  She's not always going to be brave enough to wear pink glittered shoes.  Let the girl sparkle, I say.  We got the shoes.  And she'll be wearing them to the playground and I think that's ok.