Eccos of the Past

Today I had to say goodbye to a couple of old friends, a pair of Ecco sandals that I bought years and years ago. They were Shaker style, made of rich medium brown leather with little holes on the sides, and they were among the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned. However, as time went by I wore them less and less as other newer shoes took their place in the front of my closet. Eventually I stopped wearing them altogether. I could still see them but I stopped noticing them.

Well, today I remembered those sandals and decided I wanted to wear them. It was like browsing through your address book and seeing an old friend listed there, one you haven't talked to in years, and deciding to call. I took my brown sandals out of the closet, dusted them off, and put them on. They were as comfortable as ever! I continued getting dressed and wandered into the bathroom, and I suddenly noticed that my feet were sticking to the tile floor, not much but just enough to notice that something was wrong with my shoes. A closer examination revealed that over time those man-made comfortable soles had started to deteriorate. They had become soft, sticky, and completely unwearable!

So I have had to say goodbye. I realize that those sandals were very old in terms of shoe-life, so their sad condition was not really surprising. Our lives are constantly changing and we have to clean out our "closets" every now and then to make room for new shoes, new ideas, new passions. What I regret is all the times I didn't wear those shoes when I had the opportunity.

I have another pair of Ecco sandals that I wear a lot. They are getting old but I am going to keep wearing them until they fall apart from use, not neglect.