Wisdom Shoes: Sex and the City Is 15

by Aleksander Chan

Sex and the City, the seminal Darren Star-Michael Patrick King series about New Millenium Womanhood, turns 15 today. To celebrate, we’ve unearthed a long-lost, unfinished draft penned by its sex columnist star, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker).

They say with age comes wisdom — that as we get older, we are wiser. But I’ve been thinking a lot lately about age and wisdom, and about what it means to be wise. Are we wiser because we are older, or is wisdom an ageless beauty? Because when I think about my friends, I don’t think about them being older, just more assured and more fabulous.

Wisdom, I think, is like trying to find the perfect pair of shoes: you keep trying on pairs and styles and heels until you find just the right fit — of friends you surround yourself in, of people you share your love with. But I still couldn’t help but wonder: When you find that perfect-fitting shoe of wisdom, does the search end there? Because you can never have too many great pairs of shoes.

***The other day, when I got to thinking about the milestones I’ve reached, in my life, my loves, and my career, I remembered all the ill-fitting pairs of wisdom shoes — wedges, stilettos, warrior sandals — I’ve tried on to get to the place I am today. They hurt. The straps were too tight and heels broke on the pavement. But I would have never known without them, and from the stories of my friends’ own healing heels, the kind of shoes that fit would fit me best.

Because my wisdom shoes only fit me and no one else. But once you have yours, you can get to stand back with the women who found their shoes before you, and help your contemporaries find their own perfect fits.

Aleksander Chan is a writer and editor living in Austin. He still thinks this is the best clip from SATC ever. Follow him on Twitter @aleksnotalex.