Simple Pleasures
This is one of those posts, that I might regret making public when this melancholy mood changes but what the hey, right! I'm no John Boy Walton but once in awhile I am inspired so just consider this as a musing from a baby boomer.
It's been many years, (more years than I am going to own up to in this post) since I've abandoned my shoes and walked in the grass with bare feet. Yesterday, after spending countless hours from dark thirty in the morning working at my computer for about 5 days straight, I unplugged from our high tech world and went outside to stretch and well, just breathe.
It was a gorgeous sunny day with a gentle breeze. The birds were singing and I could hear the sound of a boat crossing Lake Blue Ridge in the far distance (just love that sound), and the sweet smell of honeysuckle in the air made me feel like I had stepped into another realm. I pulled up a rocker and as I rocked back and forth to the free flowing music of nature, I could physically feel the stress and strain of the day leaving my body.
Looking out over the freshly cut green grass, I drifted back to the wonderful days of being a child. I can better appreciate now that I am an adult, the really wonderful childhood I had in a time of innocence and wonder and the only thing on the agenda was a day full of play "outside"!
The strong urge to pull off my shoes and walk barefoot in the grass came over me and sooo, I did just that. When was the last time, I felt the ground beneath my bare feet?
A long time ago for sure, but what I was really remembering is what it felt like all those many years ago. Running and playing in our bare feet as children was somewhat common in my childhood days, not because we did not have shoes or could not afford shoes, but because it was just one of those little freedoms taken for granted that came with being a child growing up in the country.
So, off with the shoes and for a moment or two, I was hesitant about putting my bare feet in the grass (result of being an adult instead of a child I s'pose) - thinking, what if I run across some hideous creature hiding in the grass? 
Dipping my toes in first, I eased one bare foot onto the ground and then the other, how surprising and soothing it was to touch the cool grass beneath my feet and for a moment, I was that little girl running free. It made my senses come alive. You've heard, "if they could bottle that"?, well that's how it felt.
The simple pleasures of yesteryear are being trampled by our high tech world today and smothering other critical senses that we all have: sight, sound, touch and smell. There's not one thing a computer or cell phone can do or ever will do to compare with what nature did for me in just a matter of a few minutes.
Today, I think I just might head to the lake, sit on a dock and dip my feet into the cool water and splash like crazy! which is another simple pleasure that has gotten lost through the years. Here's hoping you will give yourself permission to unplug and experience a forgotten simple pleasure!
Happy Feet Photo by canstockphoto.com
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