In Hawaii, everybody takes off their shoes or slippers before entering someone's home. It's an Asian custom that is now part of the Hawaiian lifestyle. When we moved to Chicago, I absolutely could not wear shoes in the house. It just felt wrong. I felt as though I was bringing dirt and germs from the outside into my clean house. When my babies were born and crawling around the floors, it became even more imperative to not track grime into the house.
Luckily, our friends (maybe that's why they were our friends) understood our idiosyncrasy and were kind enough to always remove their shoes before they entered our house. One particular couple of friends even brought over their own house slippers when they came for dinner in winter.
I've been amazed at the sensitivity of some sales or repair people who noticed that we don't wear shoes in the house and automatically honored us with their understanding in Illinois by removing their own shoes before going further into the house.
Now we're in Hawaii and it's no longer a problem. Everybody just knows they must remove their shoes no matter what the cultural background of the homeowner might be. It just makes things so much easier.
It's humorous to us that my mother's family room area is carpeted and she has asked Art and me to remove our house slippers before we step into that area. We think that's a bit much but by golly, we sure do as she says. Won't our mainland guests be in for a surprise!
