Memories of white go-go boots

My daughter, E, finally made her Halloween costume decision and it ended up being a far cry from the original plan of being a doctor.

After briefly considering a fairy costume, she ultimately settled on Princess Leia.

Now, since my kids have been born, I have been nerdily hoping that one day, I could have a Luke Skywalker, a Princess Leia, and a Yoda, or a Chewbacca, or a Han Solo, or an Ewok, or anything Star Wars. A is going as a Jedi Knight, doesn't matter which one … any one is good, as long as it's a Jedi. I got a Jedi and Leia.

Of course, G decided to go as a hammerhead shark. Two out of three is probably as good as I'm going to get.

I am in love with E's costume choice, though, because as part of her costume, I got to order her a pair of white go-go boots, and wow, did that bring back a great memory for me.

I believe I was about 4, and my dad was tasked with the mission of getting me winter boots. Since he worked second shift at Bethlehem Steel, he and I were home during the day and could get these types of errands accomplished. At that time, there was still an honest-to-God independent shoe store in downtown Tamaqua. I can't remember what the name of it was, but it was located in the Knights of Columbus building on East Broad Street, right next to Nan-Lee's Fine Apparel.

At that time, I took my dance lesson upstairs, in the K of C hall, every week. On my way into dance class, I couldn't help but stop and admire the beautiful pair of white, vinyl, high heeled boots in the display case. The giant store window and display worked their magic. When Dad said it was time to go shopping for boots, I knew exactly where we needed to go. While I highly doubt they were kids boots, the smallest size the store carried fit me well enough. They were the most amazing shoes ever. My dad, being the best dad ever, bought them for me.

I was certain they were majorette boots. At that point in time, I wanted nothing more than to be a majorette, and those boots fit the bill. Every morning, I would get up, put on my old dance costume, my boots, grab my baton, and fire up the record player. I don't remember what the album was, I think it was something related to the circus, but it had some really great marching songs on it. I would blast "I Love a Parade" and some John Philip Sousa marches and dance around the house in my boots.

As time went on, the boots would also go perfectly with my Wonder Woman bathing suit, and my Super Girl Underoos and with the Bionic Woman costume that I wore for Halloween. Those boots made me invincible.

I am pretty sure that I wore them everywhere, with everything, until they fell apart or I outgrew them.

Now, however, being on the mom side of this equation, I can only imagine the conversation that went down between my parents after Dad allowed me to come home with those things. In fact, after that, I don't remember going shoe shopping with my dad again, until I was in high school and needed running shoes for cross-country. At that point, he gave me money and waited in the car while I ran into the store myself.

Thankfully, the Internet now makes shopping by proxy a lot less dangerous than it was when I was little. Most of the time, I shop online, which not only saves me the trip, but also saves me the hassle of fighting over the rhinestone encrusted jean jacket E thinks that she needs versus the sturdy, puffer jacket that I know that she needs. School uniforms also help cut back on the number of frivolous clothes purchases that I make.

On the rare occasion that I've had to send the Wonderful Husband shopping, I have printed out a very specific item description, including size, color, style, SKU number, and a picture of the item he is supposed to buy. At the very least, I will get the item that is needed. However, the kids usually come home with a few items that weren't on the list.

For example, I can count on any camouflage colored item that is located near the needed item to be purchased, too. One time, E accompanied the WH as he ran errands on a Saturday. She came home with a new baseball hat. When I asked why it was purchased, she told me she needed it because it was purple. The WH added that it was also camo, and they both agreed it was the perfect hat for her. In the name of white go-go boots, I agreed with them.

White, vinyl, go-go boots are exactly the right footwear to go with E's Princess Leia costume. I just can't wait until after Halloween, when she finds out all the other amazing ways those boots can be worn. I wonder if I still have that "I Love a Parade" record.

Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.