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We were all doing what women love most. We were shopping for shoes.
The after-Christmas sale was tremendous. The bargains were spectacular, but suddenly nobody noticed the mark-downs nearly as much as they noticed me.
"What do you want for Christmas," my husband, Roy had asked me time after time during the weeks preceding Christmas.
"I would like to have a pair of boots," I told him a couple of times. He made a mental note of my request and before the big day Roy went boot shopping. He had no idea what size to buy, what color I would like, or even how high up my legs I wanted the boots to go.
As far as boot-shopping, Roy was totally in the dark. He had no clue what I had in mind.
When I opened one of my gifts that year, I found a picture of a pair of boots that he cut out of a sale catalog.
"We are going boot shopping tomorrow!" Roy announced, when I tossed the wrapping paper to the side. "Do you realize how many choices there are in boots?" he asked. He carried a confused expression on his face.
I smiled, just imagining the look on my sweetheart's face when he stepped into the woman's shoe department and spied the wall of boots.
The day after Christmas, we began our mission to find the perfect pair of boots. I figured Roy would drop me off in the women's shoe department while he made his way to the men's apparel to check out the ties that he didn't receive for Christmas.
Was I ever surprised! We walked into the boot department together and Roy actually stayed with me. "Which ones do you like?"
Roy asked.
"I like these and I like those," I answered. "And these aren't bad." I picked up several other pair, as well.
"What size do you wear?" Roy asked.
"Seven and a half or eight," I replied.
Roy motioned for the sales clerk to come to the boot wall.
"We'd like to try a seven and a half and an eight in this one," he said. "And this one," he further said. "And this one."
Before long, the sales clerk came out with an armload of boot boxes. I dreaded trying all of them on. It's simply not as easy to reach my feet as it was once when I was younger and more flexible.
I sat down on one of the chairs and to my surprise my sweet husband pulled up a stool and sat down in front of me. Roy untied my tennis shoes and took them off. He gently rubbed my feet and placed the first pair of boots on my feet.
Roy then instructed me to walk around to see how they felt.
This went on for as long as it took for me to try on close to a dozen pairs of boots. We laughed out loud as we shopped.
By the time we found the perfect pair, almost every woman in the shoe department was watching me with envious eyes.
Not only did I walk away wearing the perfect pair of boots that day, I walked away arm-in-arm with the perfect man.
Did I feel special that day? Did I feel loved? You can bet your boots I did!
My Prince Charming won my heart, not with a glass slipper, but with a pair of boots. And to this day, every time I wear the boots I smile and remember the day that Roy zipped them for the first time.
I also remember the expression on all the other ladies' faces and I smile again.
-- Nancy B. Gibbs <Daiseydood @ aol.com
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