Wow, lots of great advice here, thank you. Over the weekend I did clip in and it felt great to be attached to the bike, but I was riding in a parking lot! Which is a great place to learn the basics, so I'm not putting myself down.

From what I read into these responses, I recognize I don't have the confidence yet on the bike to wear cleats safely out on the roads (YET). I think I'm going to try mountain bike shoes with stiff soles, as roo4 suggested, and make the switch when I'm confident about taking the bike out for a ride. My goal is to ride with clips, but I'm going to take it at my own pace.

Thank you to everyone, I appreciate the input so much.