It’s Labor Day, and you know what that means—time to put away your white summer tennis shoes and break out the dark blue ones for fall.
Back in the day, we traded our summer shoes for “school shoes,” always heavy lace-up saddle shoes or slip-on loafers. I fancied myself a loafer kind of gal, but Mom insisted I wore black and white saddles for throughout my elementary years.
Sunday mornings we lined our shoes up to be polished before church. How well I remember the spongy-tipped “brush” we used to daub on the white, pungent polish!
I also remember how hard I tried to keep from scuffing my shoes when I was walking to and from school. Yep, that’s right I walked to school. Five miles each way. And I’m sure it was uphill both ways. Not an easy feat for my saddle-shoed feet!
I don’t remember wearing tennis shoes for anything but gym class until well into high school. Guess that dates me. But kids today don’t know the joy of shucking off your hard old winter shoes for the freedom of tennis shoes all summer.
Ray Bradbury wrote of the unbridled joy of putting on “Royal Crown, Cream-Sponge, Para-Lightfoot Tennis Shoes” and fully experiencing the joy of summer in this book Dandelion Wine. It was required reading my sophomore year. And I read it wearing saddle shoes.