I love my dad, to be sure. But sometimes I loathe that along with all his wonderful genetics he passed to me his big-feet gene. He wears size EE (which, for all those shoe-size-illiterate people out there, is really wide). I wear size D (which, for those same folk, is a notch or two under really wide, but still pretty darn wide).

I didn’t realize my feet were extra wide until high school. In elementary school and junior high I was going through a moccasin phase (hey, it was the late 80s and early 90s after all), and moccasins are made of thin, soft leather that stretches easily to fit any width feet. It wasn’t until high school when I bought my first pair of nice, preppy brown hard leather shoes that I realized there was something wrong with my feet. I remember walking up and down the aisles of JC Penny to try on the new preppy shoes, my feet burning in pain, telling my mom that they hurt my feet.

“Leather stretches,” said the sales girl.

“We’ll take them,” said my mom.

“There’s an unearned commission,” thought I.

I wore those shoes for two years. Two years. And did they ever stretch enough to stop hurting my feet? Nope. (Darn sales girl.)

My first pair of shoes that fit were Dr. Martens that I got in high school. I still can’t remember how I managed to talk my mom into spending $100 on a pair of shoes. Probably complaining about the awful rip-off preppy shoes and convincing my mom that my feet would be permenantly deformed as a result. And it would be her fault.

Getting that first pair of Dr. Martens was the best initial investment I (ok, my mom) ever made. I still have those shoes. The traction on the soles rubbed away completely about four years ago but I still wear them (just not when it’s icy outside). Now I have five pair of DMs, and over the years I’ve expanded to also wear Birkenstocks (love them) and Danskos (kiss kiss, hug hug). I’ve discovered that New Balance makes their athletic shoes to fit all widths (God bless that company). I have been a faithful annual contributor to New Balance sales ever since.

The only type of shoes I haven’t had much luck locating in extra wide is dressy, high-heeled shoes. I want a classy pair of black pumps (closed toe) for church and dressier functions. I’ve never owned a pair because I’ve never found them in 7D. Nordstrom’s has shoes worth drooling over, but do any of those fancy schmancy designers ever think of using their big bucks and designing teams to come up with a to-die-for size D shoe?

Apparently not.

Anyway. I’ve been looking. I checked out Nordstrom’s Web site and was disappointed. Not surprisingly, I might add. I was actually impressed to find any shoes in my size. They were mostly New Balance shoes, with a few eskimo-ish boots thrown in, and some strappy high-heeled sandals. Not what I’m looking for. They do have closed-toe high heeled shoes, but they’re awful. The dyable kind. And sling back. And pointed toe. Gegck.

So I’m still looking. Anyone who knows where to get classy dress shoes (closed toe) for size 7D, let me know!!!