November 8, 2014
Say Yes to life and transform all your “I’d like to’s” into “I will.”
This is a different type of blog post and I’m really pulling back the curtain for you here. Hang on. 😉
Ok. So that quote? Yeah, I tried that with my best friend (also a PCV) when she asked about my plans after service. I spun it from something like “I’d like to buy new tango shoes” to “I will buy new tango shoes”. (If you’re new to my blog, you must understand I have an addiction to dancing Argentine tango. But that’s another story.) This is the conversation that ensued…
Me: “I need to go to Buenos Aires (BA) one more time. I need shoes.”
PCV Friend: “You do NOT need shoes. How many pair do you have?”
Me: (Counting on fingers) “Um …. 20.”
Friend: “Wendy!!!…20???!!!!! WHAT?? HERE?! You’re a PCV not a fasionista!”
Me: “Well that counts a bunch of flip flops and shoes I no longer use, AND my tango shoes. But I’m only buying tango shoes in BA. I can’t go to BA and not buy tango shoes.”
Friend: “How many pair of tango shoes do you have here in Paraguay?”
Me: “Only four.”
Friend: “FOUR????!!!! How many tango shoes do you own in total?” (Clearly this woman doesn’t dance nor understand the tango life.)
Me: “Eight. Between here and the U.S. but that’s nothing. You should see….”
Friend: (Interrupts as she counts on fingers…) “Wendy, I have FOUR pair of shoes here.”
Me: “But when our service is done I need to dance one more time before going home and might as well get new shoes while I’m in BA where they are more affordable than the U.S. and the selection…is to die for! I’ll use them all.”
Friend: “You are still having your yard sale, right?”
Me: “Yes, this weekend.”
Friend: “How many shoes are going in the yard sale?”
Me: (Counting visible pairs on the floor, kept out of yard sale pile) “Well, it looks like I have 5 pair on the floor here now which means they aren’t being sold + my 4 pair of tango shoes so that’s 9 pair I’m keeping. That means more than half are going to the yard sale! You should be proud of me!”
Friend: “Well, I guess that’s something. And you ARE going to get rid of those orange flip flops, right??? You are NOT bringing them home.”
Me: (says jokingly) “But remember last Thanksgiving when I wore them with the turkey hat? Ah the memories.”
Thanksgiving 2013 and the infamous orange flip flops
Friend: (rolls eyes) “Wendy, they are too big for you and they are NOT your color.”
Me: “I know. Don’t worry, they’ll go in the yard sale. My cousin gave them to me during her visit and I love them for traveling because they are light and don’t absorb water like my other flip flops. They’ve been good to me.”
Friend: “Wendy, this is why you have a shoe problem…”
My shoes in PY, minus a pair of boots and 3 pair of tango shoes. Several will stay in PY and a few will make it home with me.
Late edit: The orange flip flops were not a hot item at the yard sale either BUT the new volunteer following up in my community came to visit last week and SHE loved them and took them off my hands! I love happy endings.
PS- all yard sale proceeds were donated to the local elementary school. Local staff and parents were excited and grateful.
Somewhere in Paraguay 
So your friend is ragging on my orange flip flops? Common On they are the bomb! Just kidding. They certainly stick out in your pile of shoes though. Great post! I always thought you had a lot of shoes (Your friend should have seen your apartment in Portland with all the shoes you had there! She might have committed you to Shoes Anonymous! So people may not not know why you have so many shoes just make sure Shoe know why you have so many shoes. (The last comment was from Joshua haha).
I love the turkey outfit ❤ I love that your priorities support your passions ❤ Clearly your use of the word like is most often used after the fact … as in "I liked that I did Dance in Buenos Aires with a new pair of shoes before jet setting back to the Northern Hemisphere where my shoes patiently waited for my feet to come home" ❤