I went to the 11:30 Mass this past Sunday with my wife and sister-in-law. It was the second Sunday of Advent. I wore an old pair of black Clarks dress shoes. I bought a black pair and a brown pair about 10 to 12 years ago. Both pairs were made in China, uppers of leather and soles of "man made materials". The uppers hardly look worn at all. My favorite belt is brown so I wore the brown pair more than the black. Since I have been retired - almost 14 years - I rarely wear dress shoes at all other than to Saturday or Sunday Mass. My attire has primarily been jeans and sweat shirts in cold weather and shorts and t-shirts in warm weather and sneakers with both combos most of the time.
I was sitting in the first row of pews and as I looked down I saw a few black fragments on the floor. I looked again a few minutes later and noticed that the front half of the sole of my right shoe appeared to be separated from the upper. When I lifted my foot i saw that the sole was flapping a little bit. That explained why I had stumbled on the way to my seat from the church door. Next I decided to take a look at my left shoe. The sole there was also separated so when the Mass ended, I waited til most of the other parishioners had exited the church before getting up to leave. The exit was a ramp. As I walked down, my wife was laughing as my soles were flapping like clown shoes. I had to be careful walking back to our car and driving home with those flapping shoes.
The shoes were beyond repair. So when I pulled into the garage and got out of the car, I pulled off the sole of the right shoe and examined the damage. Then I went to my closet and checked out the brown pair of Clarks shoes. I pulled them on, laced them up and took a short walk - maybe 2 blocks each way - to our mailbox. I wore them for the rest of the day and, so far, no problem - but I'm not ready to wear them any distance from home. I guess the soles of these shoes are glued to the uppers. Did the glue on the black pair dry out? If so, why weren't the brown shoes affected? Were the man made materials compromised in some way? I don't know. But I never thought I'd lose my soles in Church.
Comments