D. C. Donahue Books

Be thankful, be grateful, be patient, be charitable, be kind, and don’t forget to smile, as it is infectious.

I have a pair of black Classic cap-toe Oxfords shoes that I bought back in the 80’s, which I have had resoled and heeled several times over the years. I have had them so long that my shoe guy, Lou the Shoe Tedesco, has even retired.

Those shoes have seen me through countless days at work before we went business casual. They attended numerous sad and joyous moments where we danced the night away at weddings, New Year’s Eve, funerals, graduations, confirmations, baptisms, vacations, and other events over the years. So much so that if my shoes could talk, they would have a story of their own of planes, trains, boats, and automobiles, and the many miles traveled. Hmm! Maybe the title would be:

” Just an Old Sole!” (Tales from a Real Heel)

They have accompanied me through most East Coast states from Maine to Florida, extending into the mountains and along the coast. When we took our trip to Alaska from Fairbanks, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Whittier to our awaiting Princess Love Boat cruise ship, touring fjords and glaciers, and the wildlife to be seen at those stops. Then sightseeing as we head down the Inside Passage, to Vancouver, where we would catch our flight home. They were stowaways on that journey.

When we toured California from San Francisco to Santa Barbara, including Carmel, Muir Woods, Sausalito, and up the coast to Yosemite to see El Capitan or Half Dome, they came along for the ride.

A few years later, they went on a two-week tour of Italy, visiting Venice, the Cinque Terre, the Italian Riviera, Florence, Rome, the Amalfi Coast, and Naples. They even managed to be at Pope Francis’s first Papal Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on the feast of his patron saint.

Just before COVID in the Fall of 2019, they hitched a ride on our visit to five Midwestern states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Utah. visiting Yellowstone, Old Faithful Geyser, Wounded Knee, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse in the Black Hills, Devils Tower, Cody, Jackson Hole, and Salt Lake City, where we toured the Mormon Tabernacle and the surrounding grounds.

Just before Christmas that same year, they joined me on a tour of New York City, visiting Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn. They saw landmarks like Rockefeller Plaza, the beautifully decorated houses in Dyker Heights, and took a nighttime ride on the Staten Island Ferry, which offered views of the Statue of Liberty. They also visited the top of the Empire State Building and paid their respects at the Dakota and Strawberry Fields Memorial Tribute in Central Park on Sunday, December 8, which is John Lennon’s feast day. On that day, many musicians performed their hits in a sing-along style.

I am uncertain about my future, but my plan is to have these old soles, escort this old soul on my last and final journey. Like an old sentry quietly seeing who comes to comfort, pay respects, and give me a proper send off, not the great unknown. Not that I am rushing it, but in the words of Buzz Lightyear: To infinity and beyond! I just hope, and strictly from their point of view, they explain to Our Lord through most of life that I was a pretty good guy and not a HEEL at all