Confessions of a Shoe Addict

Hello. My name is Rebecca Heflin, and I am a shoe addict. I love shoes – heels, flats, pumps, sandals,

boots, ballets, peep toes, platforms, wedges, even athletic shoes – I love them all. Zappos is my favorite site. In fact, it should probably be my homepage. My closet gives Imelda Marcos’ a run for her money. My husband worked for Cole Haan when I met him. It’s not the reason I married him, but it was a nice perk, and being sample size I hit the Mother lode. I even have a 365 Shoe-A-Day calendar on my desk (more on that later), which I gleefully change each morning, anticipating the next fabulous shoe featured that day.

Two of my heroines in my Dreams Come True Series, Darcy Butler and Laura Armstrong are right there with me, only they get to buy and wear the shoes of my dreams with pedigrees like Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, and Christian Louboutin.

My love of shoes often gets me in trouble – with my husband for buying so many – and at my day-job, where I’ve gained a reputation for my shoes, and for, ahem, falling. Yes, falling. You see, I especially love heels, of the sky high variety, and the floors at my day-job are institutional linoleum – which, when wet, are slick as glass. I’ve fallen three times and slipped countless others. I was beginning to worry that our worker’s compensation carrier might mark me for a fraud, or at the very least, an incurable klutz.

Last April Fools’ Day, my co-workers got me good. Remember that 365-Shoe-A-Day calendar? Well, like any other morning, I eagerly unveiled the day’s shoe, forgetting it was April Fools’. This is the shoe that appeared. Now, the calendar does include some pretty quirky shoes – shoes I would never consider wearing, so I thought nothing of it, except that it was funny (and perhaps hit a little close to home). Then I read the description and knew I’d been had.

One particular co-worker had orchestrated the entire thing from colluding, er, planning with my secretary, to

finding a picture of the shoe, adding the image of the training wheels, and using Photoshop to create an almost exact replica of the pages in my calendar.

Now, I’m an easy-going sort, who can laugh at herself, so I took it all in stride (pun intended). My grandfather always taught me, people who choose you for a little gentle ribbing (not bullying) do it because they like you. He should know. He was the biggest teaser of them all. So this practical joke left me feeling loved by my colleagues.

I’ve yet to exact my revenge. But I will. To show them how it feels to be loved.