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Her New Shoes

If there's one striking characteristic about me, it's the fact that I can be...well...a bit obsessive about things I like. I tend to operate in two modes: all or nothing.

My parents and siblings know this all too well. When Amy Grant's "Lead Me On" album came out in 1988, I forced them to listen to the song "Saved by Love" over and over despite the fact that doing so meant I had to rewind the cassette tape each time. I think it was more than a year before I listened to any of the other songs on the album.

Some things never change. I still find myself getting stuck on a single song and playing it over and over. (The creators of the iPod had no idea what the repeat feature would one day mean for me!)

I mentioned the Spanish group Lori Meyers in my last post, and I cannot over emphasize how much I love their music. From the moment I heard the first chord of one of their songs, I knew I had found my soul's music. All week I've listened to their song, "Sus Nuevos Zapatos" (Her New Shoes), and I finally sat down today to review the lyrics.

Ahhh...

Basically, it's about a man who is out shopping with his girlfriend. He's really not excited abut this because their gone all day going from store to store, but he acknowledges that she is in her world and very happy to be there. It's actually very funny, especially the line where he sarcastically sings about how "phenomenal" it is to be there with her.

The song has inspired a new short story with the same title. I can see the woman before me. Like all of us who have spent any amount of time on this planet, she has been through significant changes. Her new shoes are symbols of the person who has emerged from her life stories. When she wears them she is tall and wobbly and in pain. At the same time she is filled with a strong sense of her femininity and indomitable spirit. You know, that's just how it feels to wear new shoes sometimes...they can take a while to break in and feel like their a part of you.

Unfortunately, I've been inundated with a project that I took on through work, and it has consumed much of my time. While I drive to work in the morning, though, listening to my current favorite song, I connect with this character, and I cannot wait until the moment when I will finally get to sit down and commit her story to paper. I'll share as soon as I can.

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