SHOES — MY DAD’S
My father, Toby, had about 15 pairs of shoes when he died. I didn’t take any of his shoes, even though he and I wore the same size. He had a foot fungus, and my mother told me to pass.
My dad had wingtips, golf shoes and tennis shoes. I never saw him in sandals, work boots or hiking boots. White shoes, definitely.
I’m more sensible about shoes — a habit I picked up from my mom. I like SAS shoes, which my mother told me about. She needed solid shoes when she got Parkinson’s disease. “SAS” stands for San Antonio Shoes. But I’m too lazy to go to the specialty shoestore to replenish. So lately I’m rocking Rockports.
When my then-20-year-old daughter studied abroad in Barcelona, she said I couldn’t visit her if I wore tennis shoes or a fanny pack. My SAS shoes were an excellent substitute for tennis shoes in Europe. I never did figure out a good way around the “no fanny pack” rule.
My dad wore Purcells abroad. He didn’t let his children tell him what to wear.
4 comments
Hahaha – didn’t want u to stick out as the obvious American. Though now big white tennis shoes and Fanny packs are everywhere!
I was so glad to see in central London and Paris, in 2007 and 2009 respectively, no men in shorts or flipflops -at least among those who didn’t seem to be (typically) American tourists.
I inherited a pair of suede 2-tone (brown on white) wingtips from Dad. Very cool, or dorky. I am not sure
You could have used an ultraviolate light treatment in your dad’s shoes to kill any trace of fungus. They used to do that in bowling alleys when you used their shoes.
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