This is my entry to 
Dear Santa,
This year, I would like a good pair of shoes that don't hurt my feet or sciatic nerve.
my old, worn out docs
You know I don't own a car or anything Santa, and so I walk everywhere, and without the right shoes, my feet hurt and my sciatic nerve gets pinched. If my sciatic nerve gets pinched, it really hurts and sometimes my legs give out! That used to happen every day and I thought it was just something I had to live with, until I went to medical assisting school and they made us wear nursing shoes as part of our uniform. My feet didn't hurt!!! My nerve didn't get pinched!! Who knew?
After that, I learned. I had always bought whatever was cheapest, but no pain and functioning legs was worth the cost - plus, the nicer shoes lasted much longer, anyway! These worn out Docs lasted me about five years before the support started to go so I started pinching again and a zipper broke. They cost $100 (I caught them on clearance!) - five pairs of Payless shoes that hurt and wore out in a year at $20+ a piece, or one good pair of Docs with no pain that lasted five? Easy choice.
But Santa, you know I haven't been able to work in a long time and I can barely feed the kitties and myself and pay rent; I haven't got $100+ for a new pair of Docs.
I have a pair of sneakers that are better than Payless shoes, but not pain free (and not waterproof, so if it's wet, they're out). I have a pair of super warm snow boots that are about the same in pain level, and thankfully waterproof (and hot if it's above freezing! LOL). And I have a pair of dress shoes that are waterproof, but hurt like hell (they were $8 and I was just looking for anything waterproof when I had none). The other shoes on my shelf are pretty much worn out and painful, but I keep them around for lack of replacements or until I literally wear a hole through the bottom. Some of them I HAVE worn a hole in the bottom! I need a comfy pair of shoes, Santa.
You know my size. ;)
Yuan would like a new cardboard scratcher and Maggie would like a new catnip rainbow. 😺😺
Thanks, Santa!
Love,
Phe
