It all started when I was in the fourth grade I decided the best color for shoes was brown. It was the first day of school and I had to wear my Easter shoes to school. My feet had grown over the summer and they were supposedly my only option. The shoes were white with pink, blue and orange flowers, nice for Easter but not for the first days of school. The embarrassment was so intense I became mentally blocked and developed a stress walk. The situation ended when on the way home 1 of my Sisters’ “little white cadillacs” (white Easter shoes) got stuck in the mud. She had to walk home in one shoe. When Mama heard my Sister’s tearful explanation, she grunted and growled and broke down and bought me a pair of black and my sister a pair of brown school shoes.
Which brings me to my story. I found these “ugly brown shoes” in the thrift store. When I first saw them I walked away but not before noticing their new condition and checking the size. I came back and noticed their creative design and real leather uppers. Into my basket they went. I make a series of initial choices when I shop, then I purge at cash register according to my finances. But who was I fooling brand new shoes, my exact size, I am at the thrift store. The first time I wore them they were only okay. I came in the house and took them off only to put them on again later. As time went on they became my 1st choice in the morning. Truth is, they are the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned. I feel like I have fallen in love with an ugly dude.
I ask myself, what if I have been wrong about beauty and style? What if my pretty/ugly meter is broken? Love at first sight is unreliable. What if beauty at first sight is too? I start taking a double look at what attracts me, and a triple look at what repels me. This is important to me because I am an artist. I should experience the world without prejudice. My new mission is to see, taste, touch things I once labeled as unattractive. Checking again for beauty in the ugly things.
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