Not too long ago, I went on a search for some new Doc Marten shoes. I am particularly fond of these type of shoes because the soles are made from old tires and they NEVER break down. I wear out the inside of the shoes before the outside ever gives up, and as long as I am wearing those doc martens I can walk all day long, and my feet never give me one issue.
The oddity here is, that I purchase all my doc martens shoes off of ebay. I have yet to buy a brand new pair. I don’t even know why, except perhaps the cost of them new keeps me hesitate to spend that kind of money. They are worth every penny, I just haven’t bought a new set. Yet.
A few weeks ago, I was surfing the net trying to find some shoes, and found something that I thought was very similar to the doc martens I usually buy. They had a decent sole that looked to be durable, so I thought I would order a pair. (Small side note, the comments below the item, said they run small , so I thought I should order a size up, and went with a 7 in women’s. That is not my normal size. I wear a 6 or 6.5 depending on the make or model of the shoe.
When the shoes arrived, it was on a Saturday morning and three of my seven granddaughters were here helping decorate a few Christmas trees. They were excited to open the new shoes for me, and were even more anxious to have me try them on. I stopped what I was doing and sat down on the floor and put the shoes on.
Within moments I knew, they were too big. Not just too long, the width was crazy. I have narrow feet to begin with, but these shoes, I couldn’t pull the laces tight enough to NOT walk out of them.
I told the girls, these shoes are too big for me. Darn it. They encouraged me to “just wear them for while”.
I have to laugh. I did as they suggested but I am not sure why. What did I think was going to change? My feet weren’t suddenly going to grow larger, but I wore them for most of the afternoon inside the house.
I felt like a duck billed platypus wearing clown shoes. I can’t count how many times I tripped over my own feet. Then, I had a revelation. With seven granddaughters, surely one of them could wear these shoes. I sat down, removed the shoes and told each of the grandgirls to try on the shoes. That was a moment of pure hilarity.
It was like watching Cinderalla’s step sisters trying on her glass slipper. Allyson is 12, Alaina is 10, and Emmalynn is also 10, and no one could wear these shoes. They have all outgrown me. At such a young age. They wear 8 and 9 already. Seems crazy to me, that they are taller and larger than I. (though it doesn’t take much to be taller than me, as I like to refer to myself as being “Vertically challenged” at 5′ 3″)
Since no one could wear the shoes, I slid them underneath a vintage oak ice box in livingroom and decided to ordered myself another. This time in a 6.5.
Last Wednesday, an amazon driver stopped here to drop off Christmas packages. I met the woman at the door, she was close to my age, perhaps maybe younger (i tend to be in denial about the winters I lived) lol. As she was leaving she stopped and said: “I like your shoes”. I was wearing my old doc martens, a bit dirty and stained from farm oil and grease. I explained my fetish with that type of shoe and she agreed that once upon a time she had a pair very similar to them, and how much she missed being able to find them anymore.
Suddenly , I ask her what size shoe she wore. She answered a 7. I told her to hold on for one minute, and I ran to grab the new shoes from beneath the vintage oak ice box and brought them to her. I told her that I has just gotten them days ago, wore them for about 4 hours and they were just too big for me, and she could have them.
She screamed and about broke my ear drum. She hugged the shoes to her chest like they were a baby. She kept saying thankyou over and over and finally ask if she could hug me, due to the covid situation most people hesitate about that anymore. I hugged her, and as she walked down the sidewalk back towards her truck, she said: “I am so happy, you made my day. These are going to be my Christmas shoes”.
I smiled, and waved as she climbed into the truck and headed towards her next stop.
I was tickled to find someone that could use the shoes, and she was elated to have a pair of shoes again like she had back in her college days. This is the “Good Stuff” Carey Grant always talked about.
compliments of Shoe Carnival