An Idea for Paris

This post is a bit different than most of my writing for one simple reason. My feet hurt. A lot. A few nights ago I had a first date with a guy that I had a feeling would be a really good guy. And he was. Thank goodness I had picked out my special outfit and my special shoes to wear in case I ended up meeting Mr. Special.

The great thing about New York is that it's a walking city. The bad thing about New York is that during the summer women feel compelled to wear cute shoes all the time. Even if we need to walk for more than a few blocks, we insist on having out feet swathed in the most trendy shoes we can afford. The problem is that most trendy shoes are notoriously awful for us. Right now I have two enormous blisters that make it impossible for me to be comfortable in any shoes other than flip flops. I had an event tonight where flip flops didn't seem appropriate so I packed up my blisters in band aids and off I went. A little sore, though I could manage.

This idea would have worked just fine and it not started to down pour as I got out of the subway. Off come the band aids, on comes the pain and my inevitable hobbling. I started laughing when I thought about how much care I take to have my feet look nice during the summer in terms of toe nail polish, moisturizing them, etc. Yet, I wear shoes that look cute that give me blisters. That makes no sense.

As I was feeling dumb (and soaking wet) sitting on the subway home, I looked around at other women's feet. We all had blisters, every single one of us. And soaked band aids that were half falling off. Now, there must be a way that we can have our cute shoes and save our feet.

I arrived home with a serious limp. My neighbor downstairs is a greater lover of magazines. Rolling Stone, Business Week, Fast Company. You name it, he orders it. He even gets all the great publications dedicated to feeding our obsession with celebrities behaving badly, one of which happened to be just outside his door. (Incidentally, I also heard the theme song to Sex in the City coming from his TV earlier today. A neighbor after my own heart!) According to the magazine's cover, Poor Paris Hilton has just finished her stint of hard time and rushed from the prison cell into the waiting arms of her loving mother. She'll probably write a book (maybe Confessions of a Jailhouse Heiress) and create a reality show based on how other celebrities would cope with doing some time behind bars (The Simple Life of a Prison Inmate). Or maybe HGTV could tap her for a new show with a title like Extreme Makover: Prison Edition. No matter what path she chooses, she'll somehow make millions from it.

I have another idea for Paris. She presumably has quite a few pairs of cute summer shoes. I'm sure she's had a blister or tow before from walking in those cute shoes. She feels our pain. Now, I am not suggesting that Paris come up with a line of designer shoes that are both comfortable and fashionable. that's too easy, and so cliche. I'm suggesting that she come up with a line of designer waterproof band aids. Yep, band aids. When I do get blisters from these cute shoes, why should I be forced to wear unsightly beige colored band aids that fall off when they get wet? Why can't I have something stylish. They make band aids with all kinds of cartoon characters on them for kids. Why not do the same for the women of New York who want to wear their cute summer shoes sans pain?

Paris made a brief statement upon leaving jail that she now wanted to do less partying, and more to help the world. I'm sure she'll keep right on wearing her designer shoes, though she may now need to do a bit more walking in them. These designer band aids may be just the ticket she needs to make a very valuable, very Paris contribution for the greater good.