Holding on to Sparkle Shoes

When I became a mom I realized just how fast time is really moving. It was in a blink of an eye from when I peed on the stick until she was in my arms. From there, time has moved even faster. There are very few things that are still around from the early days now that she is five years old. Clothes, games, toys, TV shows and movies have come and gone. She has new favorites now.

But there is one thing that has remained. If you see my daughter any day of the week, when she is not in her school uniform, she is in sparkle shoes. Since her tiny, little baby toes started wearing shoes she has always had a least one pair of shoes that is completely covered in glitter from heel to toe. They have looked different over the years from Mary Janes to TOMS to Mary Jane TOMS. But they have still remained true to the shimmer and shine that she loves.sparkle shoes

It is amazing that sparkle shoes go with pretty much any outfit. Especially in New Orleans, they fit in with her smocked dresses and her big Southern bows. She was wearing sparkle shoes when she ate her first snowball and when she hit her first cabbage ball. Even though she has grown, her love for her sparkle shoes has been along for the ride. When I call up the stairs for her to get her shoes on that we are leaving, she always comes bouncing down the stairs in her sparkle shoes.

In her sparkle shoes, she believes in fairy dust, make-believe and that she is a princess. In her sparkle shoes, she is dreaming about what she will be when she grows up and what it will be like to turn six. She is contemplating big issues like what M&M color tastes the best and what she will be for Halloween. In her sparkle shoes, life is simple. She isn’t aware that life will get more complicated as she grows. We will have new things to deal with like mean girls and algebra.

In her sparkle shoes, she has daydreamed, explored and grown. In her sparkle shoes, she is forming her personality and learning new things. In my eyes, as her mom, her sparkle shoes represent the simplicity, innocence and playfulness of childhood. There is no other time in your life where hot pink glitter shoes are acceptable at church and that is what I love about the spirit of childhood. Your imagination and creativity can soar and there is nothing that a Band-Aid or a Hersey’s kiss can’t solve.

I will continue to buy her sparkle shoes as long as she wants to wear them. But I know there will come a day when she will be too “big” to wear them. She will want whatever the “cool” shoes are of that moment. And, I will be there to support her as she transitions to the next phase of her development. But for right now, I am holding on to the magic of her sparkle shoes.

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