Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Hoka
(Warning. This is a blog about nothing much…)
Hoka. What an odd name for a shoe brand. All I know is on the many occasions when Jan has been in the hospital I noticed that a fair share of the nurses were wearing shoes with a “HOKA” logo on them. Everyone I asked swore that these shoes were the best they have ever encountered. My friend, New Mexico Sheila, also put me on to them. She got hers from Ebay, where they can be obtained cheaper than at the Hoka website.
So far I have worn out one pair. The ones I wear now are a bit too narrow for my foot and there is a little pain sometimes when walking. That defeats the purpose bigly. In my mind I wear an 11, when really I would be better served in an 11.5, which Hoka doesn’t produce, so I will get a size 12. One thing I have to say about the size of my feet – I swear that they went up one size after each birth because I used to wear a 9 in the days before children. I’m sure a 12 will make my feet look like boats, but I’ll be comfortable during my morning walks.
When Jackie was a little girl we got her shoes either at Dreamland Shoes in Maplewood or at the JC Penney’s in West County mall. One day she was wearing her new shoes as we left the store. A lady coming in the door took notice of her and said, “What a beautiful girl…oh my, what big feet!”. Fortunately that quip meant nothing to Jackie at that time. However, shoe size played a big part in her shoe shopping as she aged and going out to get new shoes was a painful experience in general. She’s tall and slender and her feet fit her frame, as they should. My telling her that when she was a teenager definitely was not helpful.
I remember that we went to Puerto Vallarta once when she was a toddler. As we got out of the taxi from the airport to our hotel, there was a bunch of little boys running around asking for money. I was too flustered to pay attention because my suitcase had not arrived at the airport with us. Normally I would have not been too worried, but my bag carried precious cargo. I may have broken several laws, but in my suitcase were my mother’s ashes, wrapped like a gift package to fool the customs people. The purpose of our trip was to scatter her ashes in the beautiful bay where we spent a lot of time when we lived in Mexico. The fact that she was floating around somewhere made me nervous. Anyway, I didn’t pay attention to the boys as I carried Jackie into the hotel lobby. Not until we got into our room did I notice that one of her brand new shoes was not on her foot. As a result the hotel concierge took my few pesos out to the boys and gave one of them the ransom for the shoe. Smart little guys…
I used to swear by New Balance shoes. They always seemed to fit nicely, and they brag that the shoes are made in America. That’s a half-truth because they have plants in the UK (for the European market) and Japan. Hoka shoes are made overseas in China and Vietnam. Not that it matters, the company seems to require excellence in their manufacture. I say that, and then I wonder about the working conditions for the workers who cut and glue and sew my footwear. Somehow I am able to reconcile that as I put on my new shoes. Happy feet, happy walking!