A Jamaican Fashionista's Winter Nightmare

You would think this was my first trip to the United States at this time of year. But like every other Jamaican who has experienced it, my conclusion is and will always be “I wasn’t made for this!” February in New York! I knew it was going to be frigid, I knew my body members would be numb once I am outdoors, regardless of the layers and layers of clothing I put on; I hate that I suddenly contract the sniffles and my nose would run totally unawares to me! What I hate even more is when friends and family say, “It’s not cold today, it’s nice” Liars!

And like the hundreds of times before, my mom would send out the same warning, “Make sure you wear closed up shoes because it’s very cold” But honestly I do not own any loafer type shoes, call me inflexible all you want but those shoes usually sit in closet and die a natural death of never being worn. What you see in the photo below is the closest I have to what we refer to as “closed up” shoes. After all, I would only need to make a dash for the car from the airport, then dash into the house from the car once home.

So my most recent trip to the Big Apple was February 2017. After clearing immigration and customs,I had to wait almost 3 hours because my parents made Siri show them the extra long route to Newark airport; then when they finally got there, they missed my pickup gate and had to go all the way around again; then after mom came inside and got me, dad was “bullied” away by the cops directing airport traffic. By the time he finally came back around my toes and soles of my feet were completely numb and I was FROZEN!!! So when mom said “Hurry Karlene before the cops tell him to move again,” in my mind I said ‘I can’t, my feet are numb!’ I was just too cold to even speak at that point.

So whoever wants to gift me a nice loafer type or boots for occasions like this I’m willing to accept. Size 91/2 or 10 please.