Like best friends who've been together year after year, through thick and thin, Cathy and her adoring public have created a solid and stable relationship. Faithful readers count on their cartoon heroine to tell it like it is, whether the subject is relationships, shopping, or parental responsibilities.

In "Shoes: Chocolate for the Feet," women immediately comprehend this connection between two of Cathy's downfalls-food and shopping. Cathy continues to battle the bulge, constantly losing the tug-of-war between her thin clothes and a well-stocked refrigerator. Millions of women have hilariously identified with Cathy's struggles with the four basic guilt groups: food, love, mother, and career.