Dr. Scholl's Shoes and Shell Island

Have you ever heard of Dr. Scholl's shoes?

So, you see, a few birthdays ago, I painted my sister a pair of Dr. Scholl's shoes. Do you remember them?

William Mathias Scholl decided to devote his life to the "science of foot relief," and thus, Dr. Scholl's shoes were born. He created shoes that fit better and would alleviate foot pain. Dr. Scholl received an MD degree from Illinois Medical College (Loyola) and then started his shoe business. The exercise sandal was introduced in the United States in 1968 and was instantly popular. By 1972, he had sold over one million pairs. The shoe, which was popular in the '60s and '70s, regained popularity again in the '90s.

Does this picture ring a bell?

Well, do you remember them. now? Let me tell you a side story. Probably around 1975ish, when these shoes came out, I was old enough to wear a women's size in this shoe. But you see, my sister's foot just wasn't big enough. So finally, after much searching (now this is before the easy Google search), she was about 6 or so, we searched from Macon to Columbus, Georgia, and finally found a place in Columbus that had little girl sizes. So, we got 1969 a pair of white "little girl" Dr. Scholl's shoes.

The next week or so, we go down to the beach, probably Panama City, and we decided to take a small boat out to Shell Island (Mama, Daddy, 1965, and 1969). So, when we get there, the captain says most of the shells are to the right, and you must be back by 2:00. If you are not back by 2:00, we will leave you. So, we get off the boat with 20 people or so, and EVERYONE goes to the RIGHT. Well, our Chevy Chase Dad says, "Everybody is going to the RIGHT, so let's go to the LEFT." And so here we go, Chevy Chase style. We find lots of shells, lots. But with all the shell discoveries, we soon realize it is close to 2:00, and we are far from the boat. So, we begin running, running fast, with bags of shells. Running, we make it to the boat before it leaves. We hop on, and the boat pulls off. Suddenly, 1969 realizes, after we drive off, that one of her white "little girl" Dr. Scholl's shoes fell while we were running and is lying on the deserted Shell Island beach. Yeah, wow, 1969 was real upset!

Anyway, I decided to paint 1969 a pair a few years back. I sanded the shoe off, and then I painted them with oil paint, like Rustoleum. I hate oil paint, messy, messy, messy. And after it dried, I put a polyurethane finish on the shoes. That was worse than the oil paint. So anyway, here they are.

You can tell that she wore them. Have you ever worn them? They hurt so bad until your foot gets used to them. It would be a lot easier if they hurt so good, but they don't. Hurt isn't ever good. Nothing about hurt is good. Don't hurt, folks. If you hurt your rotator cuff, that isn't good either. So be careful and don't get hurt today if you are hunting Easter eggs or skipping in the park. Don't hurt anyone's feelings either because that is not nice.

💙💛❤ 19656