Footwear Fandom

Thinking about shoes this morning …..

This morning in Phoenix I packed my new Merrell hiking boots and put on my canvas ECCO Mary Janes for this morning’s 3 hours of car travel. My Florida daily Croc sandal footwear is in my backpack for downtime.  I spent some time stretching my feet, ankles, legs, feet, back, neck, and shoulders and took Tylenol with the expectation of shooing away arthritis’ intrusion on the day. Family is all loaded and en route for an overnight trip to the Grand Canyon.  Although I’ve seen pictures, based on the beauty and striking landscape as we travel, I suspect there will be a lot more awe than I previously expected. And hopefully no foot pain!

 

from 3/8/2021:
God is good, all the time! For at least a month I had been thinking, “I have got to get a new, decent looking pair of sneakers. My poor Easy Spirits were stained and gasping their last breaths. I wondered if Penny’s was still open, since that had been where I usually bought the same style for at least 18 years or more. Then I got a call from the Clinique counter sales lady at Dillard’s Saturday about a gift pack. I buy the same couple of Clinique items about once a year and figured, “Eh, why not. I’m about ready for a replacement.” I hadn’t been in there since last spring when I’d gone to buy Bill some new dress shorts, since shorts had become his uniform in retirement. I stopped by yesterday and after getting my Clinique item and gift, i moseyed through the shoe department. Lo and behold, ECCO shoes were on sale 50% off. ECCO shoes came to my rescue over 20 years ago when I developed Morton’s Neuroma, inflammation of the nerves in the balls of the feet from wearing some flat sandals on hard floors too long on a retreat weekend. I’d consulted a podiatrist due to the chronic pain. He offered cortisone shots, which I declined. A friend whose husband sold upscale shoes told me about ECCO brand. I found them at Dillard’s and for several years wore the two pair of leather slides I bought almost all the time. The arch support was excellent and the shape of the ECCO shoes fit my narrow foot but gave plenty of room for my toes to spread out, which the podiatrist said would help relieve the pressure on the balls of my feet. It was a healing shoe!

What I discovered was that ECCO now makes a leather sneaker! I tried on the only two pair in my size- one pair white, one pair a soft pale grey-blue! Aaaahhhhhh! Like a soft pair of leather gloves for my feet! I came home with both pair of sneakers and a pair of cloth Mary Janes. In keeping with my shopping standards, I quickly found three pair of shoes in my closet to surrender to a second hand store! Three in, three out. The arthritis in the joints of my feet is the issue I now deal with. God knew my need and made provision at just the moment I was ready and able to receive it! Who can say God doesn’t care about every part of one’s life? He even cares about happy feet!