Why I love Dolly Parton.

I told a joke the other night – well, I should say that I tried to tell a joke the other night – at the Community Partners of Dallas Chick Lit Luncheon Sponsor Party.  We were at Barney’s New York and the store had kindly done a raffle for $2,000 worth of shoes, so I thought my joke was appropriate.  It is from Dolly Parton in Steel Magnolias:

I wear a size 6, but a size 7 feels so good, I buy an 8.

Truly, one of my favorite lines ever.  I must admit that in the heat of the moment I couldn’t remember it correctly (see last week’s post on “Speechwriting Made Easy”), but I was adlibbing and we were talking about shoes, thus the attempt at humor.

I tell you all this to talk about shoes and why they are so important.  Girls love shoes.  They always fit and if you need a bigger size, who cares?  Most people can wear “normal” sized shoes, so there is no large size department.  Even though I wear a size 14 (mostly) dress, I can walk right into the shoe department and try on any size 8 in the place.  In the dress department it is always a question as to whether they have my size. 

Side note:  This same night at Barney’s New York I asked the store manager if they had a certain dress in my size.  He said “Well, it’s a DVF dress, so they make it in your size, we just didn’t buy it.”  Case closed.

I was reminded about another reason girls like shoes by a 7 year old girl named Courtney who came to our Rainbow Room last week.  Courtney’s caseworker told our staff member Pam that Courtney’s house was the dirtiest home she’d ever been in.  Pam told me that Courtney’s little shoes were so small for her feet that the top of the shoe had curled up and separated from the sole.  But once Pam showed Courtney the shoes we had in her size, the little girl smiled and pointed to the purple and white shoes with sparkles.  Pam said Courtney put on those shoes and started dancing and prancing around like she owned the world. 

Shoes make us sparkle.  They take us away from our lowest point – literally – and raise us up, not just off the earth, but off from our humdrum lives.

Shoe shopping today, anyone?

P.S.  I think I’ll send my #FundraisingFriday $10 gift to the Dollywood Foundation's Imagination Library this week.  Love me some Dolly!