If the Shoe Doesn’t Fit . . .

My mother was a very smart woman. She figured it out, whether it was a recipe that didn’t work the first time or how to raise her two sons.

One of the many things Mom figured out was how to buy shoes.

“If a pair of shoes isn’t comfortable, don’t buy them.  They’re going to fit exactly the same way tomorrow morning as they do right now.”

I wanted to buy many of the shoes I tried on.  Many looked great, but there was always Mom with her, “If the shoe doesn’t fit . . . “

My friend Roger taught me a lot about relationships (about what to avoid, that is).  Time after time, when we were in our twenties and thirties, he said to me, “I’ve just started dating this new woman, but it’s not going to last for more than a few weeks because (fill in the blank).”  Then a few months later he was living with the woman.  A few years after that he’d say, “We broke up because (fill in the same blank).

Where the relationship pinched his toes at the beginning, it pinched even more the next morning, the next week, and the next year.

Unlike Roger, I’ve always believed that a new relationship has to begin really well to have a real chance to succeed.  If a woman doesn’t like my sense of humor on the first date, her taste is not likely to change.  If her nervous giggle irritates me immediately, why should I suffer through the stomach churn of a date?  Familiar incompatibility breeds divorce.

If you like this blog, I have already made my point.  If the blog doesn’t fit . . . at least it’s short.

Alan