Today my shoes decided to give up. I’ve had them for almost five years. They owed me nothing. They were very comfortable; and still sort of are. But they need to be retired.

The shoes did me good for all those walks with my wife. They even made a visit to Mexico and two trips to Disneyland as well. The bottoms have slowly been losing their tread over the years as it is. I took great care of them for the first year. Keeping them clean, not using them for gardening, never wearing them to work.

Now, my “One Piece” runners are going where all dad runners go for retirement- into the garage. They will remain laced up at all times for easy slip on to wander to the garden, or out to the shed or a quick jaunt to the trash can. The shoes will eventually die from too many puddles and dirt. Then they will be sent to the garbage as I wear my next set of retired shoes.

I wear most shoes right down to disintegration. Or until one is destroyed. The question now is which pair of shoes will be my next set to wear into oblivion. I still want comfort, but style is nice. I’m not ready to wear my Vans to work. I do have a couple of pairs of Sketchers that I like.

“Those must be comfortable shoes, I bet you could walk all day in shoes like those and not feel a thing.”