How do you throw away shoes this DIVA?

This is a pair of shoes circa 1979. I have had these shoes tucked away in a box in my closet for nearly 30 years. I bloody LOVE these shoes!

They are turquoise suede that is so soft to the touch you feel like you're touching a cloud. And they have cobalt blue leather piping just across the toes and at the joint of the heel. And that turquoise color - OMG! I love that color!

I bought these shoes to go with a custom painted silk jacket in exactly this shade of turquoise and lovely shades of purple, lavender and orchid. I still have the jacket too.

Both of these items were purchased for my 10th high school reunion. I was thin, I had money, and I was going in some darn hot DIVA shoes!

Then right before I was to leave I broke my big toe on my right foot tripping over a parking block! That's right, broke my toe! Not my finger, not my elbow, not my arm, nothing broke except a toe that swelled up and made me unable to walk.

The doctor told me to stay off my foot, keep it elevated, blah, blah, blah. I told him that was not going to happen - I had somewhere to be and I HAD SOME COOL SHOES TO WEAR THERE! He said that I was not to wear those shoes. I did it anyway.

That's right, I proudly hobbled my way into my 10th high school reunion and I hobbled in those turquoise shoes! My foot was on fire, the right shoe was bulging with a toe twice it's normal size and I was in complete and utter pain. But I WAS WEARING THOSE SHOES!

Later I paid a shoe repair person to gently coax that right shoe back into shape.

Nearly 30 years later I still possess those shoes. I cannot give them up. They have traveled all over this country and parts of Europe with me. They have been silently waiting in my closet, tucked in tissue, always present, always gorgeous. I cannot give these shoes up.

When my mom passed away and I had to go through her possessions, I found in her cedar chest a pair of purple suede shoes in the platform style of the forties. Something tells me there was a story behind those shoes too. DIVAs must run in my family.