In which I must reconsider a strongly-held opinion

Let’s talk about Crocs.

Yes, I have railed against Crocs for their sheer ugliness, as well their total inappropriateness when worn outside of your own back yard. I stand by that perhaps overly-dramatic judgment. They are ugly. They are not street shoes. They make you look like you escaped from an asylum for disturbed clowns. They do not belong at the grocery store, at the airport, or your local cocktail lounge.

Evil Crocs:

My loathing of these “shoes” has always extended to the company that created them, foisting them on a taste-impaired public, and filling landfills with them once they’d either worn out. Or gone out of fashion (if “going out of fashion” is possible for anything so horrible).

But now I have to change that view; hate the shoe, love the shoemaker. Well, love is too strong a word, but…

For the last four or six weeks my right ankle has hurt. I’ve woken up to find it still and painful and hobbled over to the coffee pot to get my day going. I assumed at first that I’d just twisted my ankle or something, but it didn’t get better. So, my doctor referred me to an orthopedic surgeon, who examined me and took x-rays and announced that I had plantar fasciitis.

Fortunately, just a touch of it. Meaning: no bone spurs. No torn ligaments. Just the initial signs of degradation of the plantar tendon. He gave me a brochure full of stretches, advice on avoiding certain kinds of stress on it, and told me to call him if it was not getting better in a few weeks.

Quite independently of this, I’d sought out some kind of durable sandals to leave on my back steps for trudging around the yard with Teddy. My yard gets muddy and paws get muddy and feet get muddy, and my super-comfy Westland sandals from Germany have soles that trap dirt and grass, leading to all too frequent vacuuming. So, the idea was something I could slip on as I headed out back – outdoor shoes, to reduce the mess.

I had a pair of rubbery sandals that I got for about $9 at DSW, but they quickly warped and became really uncomfortable. So I looked at the selection at Zappos, and wound up buying a pair of… Crocs. No, not those ridiculous things above, a different sandal of theirs that looks like something you’d put on your feet, not the exoskeleton of an ancient Chia Pet.

And… they are miracle shoes. In the morning, just a few minutes walking around outside with them relieved my ankle pain. The heel is nice and bouncy. They seem to provide just enough support to take the pressure off that tendon and not constrain anything, and they just feel amazing.

So, I decided I needed them for inside the house – the German sandals are pretty good, but not as good – and so now I have Pair 2 of the Miracle Crocs:

So, I have to relent from my hatred of Crocs, the Company – these are my new house shoes, and they really help with my poor ankle.

This should not be misinterpreted as any indication that I think wearing the traditional Crocs in view of any human being other than those you are having sex with or gave birth to (who are allowed to see all kinds things that the rest of us should be spared).

I’m not sure what’s more humbling – a pain in a joint caused by just living long enough to have walked on my high-arched feet for too long, or having a product made by Crocs on my feet. But, whatever. These things work.