My daughter often says Ocala is a lot like Stars Hollow, the quaint and intimate town in the TV show “Gilmore Girls.” I recently had an experience that confirms her observation, and it began and ended with buying orthopedic shoes.
Back story: for the past few months, I’ve struggled with chronic foot issues resulting in throbbing heel and arch pain. The fact that I was even talking about heel and arch pain made me want to hide under my bed covers and wake up to be 20 again when life was fresh and bold with three-inch heels. Not an option, my doctor said after he examined the source of my pain. He informed me this is often a natural part of aging and too much foot stress inflames an already vulnerable situation. I joked this was probably the result of running too many marathons, but he wasn’t buying it. “Get supportive shoes,” he said as his nurse handed me a shoe buying guide.
Twenty minutes later, I was limping into a department store with one goal: buy the most chic kind of ortho shoes I could find. I quickly passed by my old friends — Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Sam Edeleman — all had been good to me for many years with their stylish shoes that made me feel glamorous. Now their shoes made me feel like I was ankle-deep in a bucket of nails. So long, Mike, Ralph and Sam, arch support is what I’m after!
I was on my sixteenth pair of shoes when I noticed two women were staring at me.
“Oh, that’s not a good look,” one said, shaking her head as she eyed my selections. “You can do better.”
Before I could protest and ask who the heck she thought she was, her friend handed me two more pairs of shoes off the rack.
“Try these,” she said. “They look great, and you can walk in them longer than five minutes.”
They were right. Slipping on the low-heel shoe, I thought I heard angels singing as my aching foot rested on a pillow of leather. Skipping down the shoe aisle, I high-fived my new friends as they cheered me right past the ortho sneakers. When I turned around, more women had gathered nodding their heads in approval.
Soon, I was swiping my debit card for three pairs of shoes I could wear for “work and play” according to Barbara, my new shoe BFF. After a parting goodbye, I wore one of my new purchases right out of the box and wandered into the women’s casual wear department feeling young, bold and confident.
“Hey!” someone yelled. “Look at this!”
My shoe buddies held up a dress. “This would go great with your gold shoes!”
Right again. We all laughed how the shoe stars had aligned for me, but, really, I was lucky to run into a group of women who decided their temporary mission in life was to get me on the ortho fashion track for success.
These were my people now. They invited me to go for an after-work drink. But I begged off, so we exchanged contact info.
“Amy Mangan?” one of them said, “Are you Sherman Yeary’s daughter?”
And just like that, we discovered a connection through a friend of my father’s.
“Wait a minute, I know your mom,” another shoe pal said.
This would totally have happened in “Gilmore Girls,” only over a cup of coffee at Luke’s Diner. Almost like Stars Hollow, only better, right here in the town that gave me new arch and friend support. And yet another reason I love Ocala so.
