This might be the most perfect example of using something up that I’ve ever seen. They’re not from someone down on his luck. No, just the opposite. They are the shoes of someone who gracefully embraced whatever came his way without too much worry about the “luck-ometer”. The expression, “It is what it is.” never parted his lips. (Surely this clichéd pronouncement of the obvious won’t last 44 years.)
These lace ups began life as dress shoes- nice ones, inherited from his father. When they got too tired to even pretend to be for dress up, they were reborn as his OR/ Labor and Delivery Shoes. As the many years wore on, so did the shoes. I suspect at some point the wearer might have considered downgrading another pair from dress to mess. I feel certain that he never considered buying a pair for this purpose. Seriously. They are just going to get ruined.
OSHA or a hospital administrator might force the issue now. That’s now. These shoes were then. In many ways, then was better. We’ve forgotten that there are a lot of pretty things that we should not buy. These shoes are the perfect reminder: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” That’s always in style.