I don't have to have shoes

Prompt: what you don’t have to have

Note: written on a cold winter night in mid-December

 

I don’t have to have shoes. Cold mud is my least favorite sensation, seconded by a cold damp hem on my jeans that knocks against my bare ankles when I walk, but both are bearable, and neither lasts too long.

I so much savor the freedom I feel in my heart when my feet are bare that it is worth it to me to bear the discomfort of cold mud and damp hems. When the ground is cold and muddy, everything about my body is miserably uncomfortable. I mean, it’s spikey, icy rain that creates the muddy ground after all, and I don’t like how that feels on my nose and in my bones.

I stray. My point here is that I don’t have to have shoes. I have thick soles so rough surfaces do not bother me. In contrast, I find that the many textures of the world serve me with miniature foot massages all through the day. Tingle, mingle, surprise! Hot, cold, tiny prickles, dull, wide thumps. It makes me aware of my environment and puts me in touch with the interaction between the earth and me – even the every day dull moments that make up my life. I get this constant loving touch from the earth all through the day. These sensations coming to my consciousness through the soles of my feet provide for me an awareness that gives me a certain kind of energy that pulsates in my soul

A secret massage – a dancing soul – oooh! Such joys!

I don’t have to have shoes, but I do have to go barefooted!

Comments

[Khan]

River
You are right, we do not need to have shoes on. We can everywhere barefoot and will have least of foot problems. But when it snows in NYC, we feel like wearing shoes. It is too cold for us. probably, we are from part of the world, where it is mostly warm. Yes, other than snow, me and Sarah are 24/7 barefoot.
Happy New Year to you and your kids. God bless them.
BarefootKhan and Sarah