Daughter Snowbound Due to Lack of Proper Footwear

I was not home through most of the snowstorm due to working at my job. I take care of an elderly man and am on shift for overnights. Due to the weather conditions I did two extra long shifts two nights in a row. My daughter stayed home and kept the fires burning and fed the cats. She also did a lot of knitting.

When I got home on Weds. with the prospect of an afternoon free I was ready to do some exploring. I had basically been inside since Sunday night and had only seen the beauty that snow and cold temperatures bring in my drive up and down the island to my job. I was very anxious to get out in the weather and walk. I wanted to walk and explore with my daughter. BUT she had no shoes! Shoes to wear in snow that is!

This is not unusual if you know my daughter. My daughter is all about shoes. Buying shoes, letting go of shoes, buying more shoes, breaking shoes, having improper shoes. It's all about the shoes.

Just last week we were in Bisbee, Arizona on a short trip with my mother when Alia and I went exploring. Bisbee has some very steep hills and some very interesting galleries. We only got up about half a hill before Alia's shoe broke. It was a sandal with a heel and the strap broke. We had to turn back. Lucky she had another pair of shoes and these shoes were flat or else we would have spent our entire time in Bisbee shopping for shoes. Trust me. I've been there with her before. There is the infamous Alia pink shoes adventure when we were in Wales. Please check out my prior post about that shoe incident. Part 1: Wales Shoe Incident.
Part 2: Alia's Pink Shoes

In any case back to shoes, and shoes and snow, and exploring. I had been inside for days and as far as I could tell Alia had been inside for days as well. I wanted to get outside in the great outdoors and I wanted her to get out there as well.

It started snowing again, a light soft dusting of flakes. I was already to go and was all suited up for the weather. But Alia had no shoes. Or rather she had plenty of shoes but they were all inappropriate for the conditions. Heels, straps, open toed, flipflops, but nothing for snow. Since she hadnt been out of the house for days, except to the woodshed and back she wasn't fully aware of the conditions. Of the ice and snow and of the slip and slide. How you really did need a solid flat pair of some kind of boots to walk if one wanted to remain dry and unscathed and standing upright in the weather.

So I went scrounging around for shoes for her and came up with a pair of one of my old boots that were at least 3 sizes too big for her and she put them on her feet and we went walking. We went walking up to Islandale Store for lunch. Because the boots were so big on her she slipped twice, fell once and because it took so long to find shoes, the grill was closed and we didn't get lunch. It was disappointing not to get lunch but at least we got outside and I got the chance to write this little story and make a point to her. And we laughed. A little. I didn't let her know fully, how much really, I was amused by yet another ALIA SHOE INCIDENT.
(To read Alia's thoughts on the subject see her blog entry: Being Cold is Wrong)