The shoe shine box

 He took out the old shoe shine box from the closet, the one his dad had given him. “I’ve had this for many years,” he said, “and it has lasted this long because I took care of it.” Inside the box were four tins of polish: black, brown, cordovan, and neutral. There were also two horsehair brushes, a soft rag, and a toothbrush. He would often tell me, “You can tell a lot about a man by the way he keeps his shoes.” Looking back, I realize I never saw him with unpolished shoes.

Many Saturdays, he would show me how to slip my hand into a shoe and select the color of polish I wanted. With a soft rag, he would dip it into the tin with two fingers and, in a circular motion, cover the entire shoe with the waxy polish, which we would then let set for five minutes. After that, he would use the larger brush to brush the shoe with even strokes until a shine began to appear. It was like magic; the shoe became so shiny you could see your reflection. To make the shoe shine even more, he would use the smaller brush for several minutes. The final step involved using the toothbrush to clean around the heel and inside the grooves. “That’s it,” he would say, “one shined shoe. Now you do the other one.”

As I grew up and kept my shoes polished, I picked up some tricks during my time in the Navy. An old sailor taught me how to make the toe of a shoe shine like a mirror by taking a rag, dipping it into a tin of hot wax, and slowly moving it back and forth until a shine started to develop. It was time-consuming, but we spent days and weeks at sea, and time was something we had plenty of.

Once my service was over and I began a civilian job, I made sure to shine my shoes. In doing so, I remembered all the times my dad and I polished our shoes on the back porch. Now that I’m retired, there’s no real need for shiny shoes, but I have shown my grandsons the wooden box with the tins and brushes, just as I showed my son. Hoping they might use it someday. Unfortunately, all they wear are sneakers that don’t require the use of the old shoe shine box.

— Mike, 2025