Shoe Dilemma 

It is hard to think about packing for cold and rainy weather when your life has been norts, Chacos and t-shirts, but this is what Carter has been doing today. With very limited suitcase room what shoes to take, especially size 11’s, is a tricky equation to work out.  
Shoes to wear to class are not an issue since Carter will be having classes in the same building where she lives. I hope she doesn’t just roll out of bed and go to class in the same outfit she sleeps in. It is the shoes for out and about Berlin, and every other European spot she can get too that take thought.
Given her southern shoe wardrobe I suggested we buy a few new shoes for her semester abroad. I did not have to twist her arm and she was perfectly happy to go to DSW. (Frugality runs through the XY chromosome in my family.) At 95° today it was not exactly winter shoe shopping weather, bit there is no time to waste in case we had t order something.
The first choice of some black casual shoes, just slightly up from sneakers seemed like an easy thing to find. Not when you wear an 11. A very nice clerk offered to help and could only come up with a pair of sand colored grandmother shoes. Carter went off in another direction looking for some short boots.  
I roamed the aisles and found a pair of vans, exactly in Carter’s size that matched what she was looking for. Score one for Mom. Carter found a nice pair of brown boots perfect for fall into pre-snow winter. Yes, I told her to get those too.
Then for fun she tried on a pair of tall boots where the tall part was not stiff so they could fold into a small ball for packing. Well, she had to have those. Three perfect pairs. Exactly what she needed to be added to the warm furry snow boots we ordered earlier.
 I talked to her about replacing her Birkenstocks which I thought would be nice to wear around the dorm. “Mom, I am going to the land of Birkenstocks. I can buy them there.” Ta-da and done. Maybe some ballet flats, which she has in spades from the collection of shoes that lives in the hall outside her room.
There is nothing more important when traveling than having the right shoes. It is not about the look, but the walkability. I think Carter did well on both fronts. Now I am spraying them all twice with water proofing spray. Things only a mother thinks of.