It all started in the early 90s. That beautiful time in the world where light-up sneakers were born.
With every step you’d take, a brilliant light would shine from your feet.
Almost every kid in the 90s coveted a pair of the LED shoes from companies like L.A. Gear.
But after reports that some of the shoes were disrupting the school day, unsafe, and even dangerous, LED sneakers fell out of favor.
Until now!
They’re back… big time. And even adults are anxious to get their hands on them. Including 70-year-olds like Ted Calgary.
The Thorne family from Calgary, Canada all came together to celebrate grandfather Ted’s 70th birthday.
His children bought him a box of Nike running shoes with LEDs underneath.
Ted says that he wanted to have these light-up shoes for over eight years, but thought they didn’t make these for adults.
“He was wrong … They make them for big kids too,” his daughter, Sarah, wrote on her Instagram.
Sarah wanted to capture the moment when her father Ted opened up the package.
“This is what happens when you give your dad something he’s wanted for about eight years, but he always thought they made them just for kids,” she wrote in the post with the video.
When he’s handed the box, he doesn’t seem overly excited as he assumed it was just a pair of sneakers.
His mild reaction shifts quickly to total excitement when he realizes that the shoes feature pressure-activated LEDs in the heels of the shoes.
Immediately after he pressed the shoes and the lights went on, he loudly shouted “Oh! Get outta town!” and threw the box with the other shoe to the other side of room in sheer excitement.
The adorable granddad even punches the air in extremely joyful fashion. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!”
A moment later, he even proudly shows off his sleek new shoes to his grandchildren.
Sarah posted the video of her father’s excitement on the internet, and it quickly went viral when shoemaker Evolved Footwear created a .gif file of Ted’s reaction. At one point, the original video was seen over 40 million times.
“I really wanted a pair of those shoes,” Ted said. He says he was “truly shocked” by the gift, because, “everybody said you can’t get adult shoes (with light-up heels).”
He first saw the shoes at a school dance and thought “Gee, it’s too bad I can’t join them.”
Ted now walks around his home with his new light-up sneakers and absolutely adores them. Check out his adorable reaction to his gift in the video below.
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