One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 77

Photo is of grandbaby #8, Ember Elizabeth Noelke. Welcome to the world soon-to-be very smart little gal!

#77 – “Don't drive with your shoes on; you'll scuff up the heels.”

The memory that comes rushing back to me as I consider #77 originated in 1983. A well known and well-liked Austin philanthropist, who at the time was a struggling attorney, is walking away from me after a meeting. The backs of her high heels are scuffed, and I'm  thinking to myself, she shouldn’t have been driving in those shoes. My memories are riddled with such flashes of validation of mother’s lessons. I never know when they’ll come, but they all eventually do.

Just recently when trying to decide if a pair of shoes should stay for another season or go to Goodwill, I looked at the backs of the heels and sure enough they were scuffed, which was a little perplexing because I always take my heels off when I drive. Actually, I take off whatever shoes I’m wearing when I drive, be it Cole Haan or Croc, not because of mom’s #77 but because my feet are always hot.

This “hot feet” thing has haunted me for years. I can’t sleep with my feet under the covers. I can’t tolerate a sheet covering my feet when I get a massage. I take a fan with me wherever I travel to blow on my feet. I’m not kidding. It’s a problem.

After years of fruitless research, I’ve come up with my own theory about why my feet are so hot. Since I work from home, I go barefoot about 90% of the time, and as a result my feet are very calloused. Callouses prevent heat from escaping from my feet, and therefore they overheat. I should have been a doctor.

But back to scuffed heels and driving. Mom also said that cheap shoes were classifying, and since us Wades are all about looking classier then we are, not wearing scuffed shoes is important. Driving to a meeting? Take off your heels or you might get de-classified!

Smart Gals Sip – Drinks With Jan Goss

New Mexico best gal-friend Deborah Fondren and I had drinks Thursday with Patti DeNucci and Jan Goss (pictured l-r). Yes, another riveting saga of Very Smart Gals! Since I’ve previously profiled both Patti and Deborah, I want to talk about Jan Gross, the principal and founder of an extraordinarily interesting company, Civility Consulting, which specializes in “Impression Management.” How important is that? Well, how many times have you pledged to never again do business with a company because their receptionist was snippy, or because their salesperson ignored you or said something offensive? It matters, and Jan helps companies train their representatives to put their best foot forward.  Fascinating! Which describes both Civility Consulting and Jan Goss. Here, see for yourself.

Learning to Breathe: One Woman's Journey of Spirit and Survival By Alison Wright

Women adventurers fascinate me. Well, to be accurate, adventurers of any gender fascinate me, but women who leap beyond the boundaries of the mundane are of particular interest. Alison Wright is a photojournalist who has spent most of her life traveling all over the world, primarily in Southeast Asia, photographing for magazines. She is also known for her photographic book Faces of Hope: Children of a Changing World. Learning to Breathe, Wright’s most recent book, is about a horrific bus wreck in the tullies of Laos that Wright barely survives, and her multi-year, very difficult recovery. Although the book cover subtitle includes “journey of spirit and survival,” it is a lot less about spirit than survival. Sure the Dali Lama is in there, as is the plight of the Tibetan Buddhists and Richard Gere’s predictable recommendation, but then my sense of the paucity of “spiritual” substance may just be a reflection of my existentialist’s predisposition.

What dominates the book are Wright’s gaud-awful injuries in the bus wreck, and her struggles with medical recovery. The irony is that she barely survives for weeks in remote, medically primitive villages, but doesn't fare much better when she finally makes it back to our "advanced" American medical system. CLICK ON READ MORE BELOW.