dad's shoes

Sometimes things just come together in a serendipitous moment. A few weeks ago in the The New York Times Spelling Bee the clue brought back a long ago memory of my dad. A few days later while looking through boxes of “stuff,” I came across this cloth from my dad’s career with Sears. 

What do they have in common? 

The word using all of the letters in the Spelling Bee is cordovan and the shoe shining cloth is a gift from the old Downtown Dayton Sears shoe department after a leather shoe purchase was made.

My dad had a shoe shining kit filled with many soft cotton flannel rags, brushes of different textures - stiff horsehair brushes for buffing and smaller applicator brushes - and metal tins of paste polish (Kiwi or Esquire brands), in black, tan, brown, and cordovan, a rich, dark burgundy or a reddish-brown color. I so remember his shoe shining kit - a dark wood hinged-lid box with a built-in footrest on top for stabilizing shoes as they were being polished and all the dividers inside for organizing the polish, brushes, and rags. Dad taught me how to shine his shoes, first dusting the shoes off, applying the polish rubbing it with the soft rags in circles on the flatter surfaces, wrapping the rag around my index finger to get the polish into those tough-to-get cracks and crevices. Then came the fun part - wiping the polish off and then giving the shoes the final shine with the soft brushes. Back and forth, back and forth to a high gloss finish.

Dad wore suits and ties to work every day of his job at Sears from the beginning management training classes until his retirement in 1993. Business casual dress was becoming more commonplace but dad refused to end his career in khakis, a polo shirt, and casual shoes. He believed that shiny shoes, when wearing suits to work, symbolized professionalism, attention to detail, and personal discipline. He believed a polished look conveyed respect for the workplace, helped create a positive, professional first impression, and ensured a classic image. Wow, how times have changed, not for better, not for worse. It's just change, a new attitude.