FISCHER: If the shoe fits, wear it

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

As you may or may not know, I am a creature of habit.

I liked my Chrysler Sebring so much I bought two of them and only switched to a different model of car after GM stopped making them all together.

If you see me taking notes on something, it will almost certainly be with a Bic Atlantis pen.

I am writing this column on a 22-year-old version of Microsoft Word with my fourth or fifth iteration of the same Logitech keyboard I’ve had in that same timeframe.

With this in mind, it is relevant to announce that I now have new shoes.

A quick recap for anyone that missed part one of this footwear fable. For just about the entirety of my adult life, I have been wearing the same brand of basic black shoe, wearing down and replacing them about once a year for the better part of two decades.

The Brahma Men’s Escott Wide Width Soft Toe Work Boots have always felt like they were made specifically for me. The high-top build, the basic black design, the wide width. They are everything I want out of footwear.

Alas, it seems nothing lasts forever. Weeks of scouring the internet has confirmed that these shoes are no longer readily available. I’ve done everything short of contacting the manufacturer to ask about if or when they will be made available again.

Thus, for the first time I can recall, I’ve had to go shoe shopping.

Online, of course. While I feel bad about the ongoing collapse of the retail shoe industry, the idea of physically driving to a store to personally scour their inventory in the hopes of finding a shoe that fits my needs just does not seem like a practical use of time in the 21st century.

Especially if you’re as picky as I apparently am.

It took more searching than I thought it would, but I eventually found what I hope to be a suitable replacement. Namely, a Lugz Convoy Wide Boot.

They’re close, but different. As far as appearances go, they perform the same function. Black and virtually featureless, these shoes won’t look out of place on a farm, in a courtroom, or anywhere else my job may take me.

They come up higher on my ankle than the Brahma’s did, so that’s going to take some getting used to. The tongue of the shoe isn’t padded either, which is a minor but noticeable quibble.

On the plus side, they weren’t kidding when they said the shoes were wide. For all the convenience of online shopping, my biggest concern about buying a pair of shoes sight unseen was not knowing how they would fit. Fortunately, even my wide foot, which has brought inevitable doom to every pair of shoes I’ve owned since I was a child, fits comfortably in the Lugz. No breaking in necessary.

It may be too early to say this, but this may be the first pair of shoes I’ve had that I won’t eventually wear the sides out of.

Have I actually been missing out all these years?

Could trying new things instead of just settling into a comfortable habit forever actually result in a better outcome?

Is it time to cast out into the wild unknown and discard my other long held habits in favor of something new?

Let’s not get crazy. But at least my new shoes are okay.

— Travis Fischer is a news writer for the Charles City Press and still isn’t likely to change any more long-running habits until absolutely necessary.