Yesterday afternoon and evening my youngest daughter, Cheyenne, and I went shoe shopping. During this process I learned that the days of tennis shoes, thongs and boots being the sum total of acceptable footwear are gone. In addition to the many shoes she considered that were not in the above three categories during this shoe shopping extravaganza, there were a pair of purple plaid flats.

Yes, you read that correctly – purple plaid flats. This is from the girl who was way over purple last year, has never been a fan of plaid and who has never been what one would call a fashion forward individual. Plus, they were flats – who would have thunk?

Unfortunately, the purple plaid flats were oddly-sized and one size was too small and the next was too big. But she was fixated on those shoes which she now terms Dorothy shoes based on the shoe name Candies assigned it. I think they were appropriately named – they do look to me like something that belongs in Oz.

Candidly, I could never see myself wearing a purple plaid flat and I had a moment when she gravitated toward it in which I thought I had not done my job as a fashionista mom, but then I had to acknowledge to myself that only the fierce wear purple plaid flats and fierce is a good thing.

Well, the sad part of the story is that it was with great disappointment that we had to end our shoe shopping bonanza absent the Dorothy shoes. All was not lost though as we took up the fight on the internet when we arrived home and found a series of plaid flat offerings on Payless online in the women’s department. Cheyenne is between a size 4 and 5 in girls now depending on the shoe so I theorized that she is likely able to wear a 5 in a woman’s sized shoe.

Unfortunately, Payless did not have the signature Dorothy shoe, but they did have a purple plaid flat and other plaids as well. Clearly I missed the memo that plaid flats are “in” this year. Given a series of color choices now available Cheyenne chose the turquoise plaid shoe below.

I cannot fathom what she will wear these with, but given the fact that she was so committed to plaid flats I committed to her fashion progressiveness. The good news for me was that it is Payless’s Buy One Get One Half Off sale currently so we also purchased the old standard – boots – and I also was able to use a $5 off coupon. We were in and out of Payless online with two pairs of shoes for a few pennies under $30. That brought a smile to the shopper in me.

So, do me a favor, when you see us out and about and Cheyenne is wearing those plaid flats gush over them like they are the best thing since sliced cheese. She is becoming fierce and if plaid shoes are the first outward demarcation so be it. I walk away from this experience with a whole new respect for the power of plaid, but don’t look for me to be wearing plaid pumps anytime soon…I am not that fierce.

Day forty-seven of the new forty – obla di obla da

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