Summer Feet.

       I began this week with Griffin, sharing how I got to celebrate Bereaved Mother's Day on Sunday just because of him. Monday was about me as a woman, turning 30 and celebrating being comfortable in my own skin. Tuesday I discussed my professional and personal side as a Nurse and Wednesday celebrated being a wife.
       Since I don't have specific celebration days for Thursday, Friday, or Saturday I am taking liberties with my theme and reflecting on my attitudes as a mom, all leading up to Mother's Day.
       I did a little research into specific celebrations for each day in May and found Thursday to be "no sock day" thus my walking a mile today is barefoot.

        So how do bare feet relate to mommyhood? I can't say that there is much about feet themselves I identify with, but more the idea of tough skin. From an early age I lived shoe-less all summer, running in the sand and grass in the yard, enjoying the freedom of being able to splash in the pool one minute then run into the dirt the next...and back again, much to my mother's dismay when cleaning the pool later. That freedom has been something I want to instill in my girls now, as they are growing up, that they can have tough soles (or souls) if you will, that they can wear their "Summer Feet" and enjoy it.

       I find myself still working on toughening them, asking them to walk up the driveway and to the mailbox without their shoes. It's a paved road, not too rocky like the gravel drive that I was accustomed to running up and down when I was their age ;). I encourage them to take off their shoes at the beach too, to walk in the surf to get wet toes, even if the water is still cold. Something about burying those feet and curling up the toes to unearth them again is silly fun but also strengthens them, stretching in ways they haven't all winter. Playing in the yard is another place I don't mind them taking off without those tennis shoes tethered on. Roughens them as they tumble down the hill, climb the ladders, and pump on the swings, splaying those toes in the breeze, tanning them in the sun.

       This mentality does make for headaches for me at times, though. Not too many days go by that their shoes are together, neatly placed on the rug at the end of the evening. I find muddy socks turned inside out in my clean laundry, and find myself easily frustrated by the clump of dark dirt that filters into my lap as I turn them right side in, feeling each grain grating on my nerves. There are rain soaked boots and sandals left in the yard, picked up days or weeks later, after much searching about the house for them when previously missing in action. And my tweezers never rust from disuse as those little toes and heels are the best way to find a wayward burr in my yard, picking it up and limping it to my side quite frequently, bearing a wailing child with them.

       Headaches aside, I appreciate the thick skin it grows on my girls, this cultivating their summer feet. It's an important thing to have tough soles in life, to wear calluses in from practicing skills like running and jumping and playing hard. It's important to me too, that they can appreciate the different experiences it offers, though I'm not sure they recognize it. All those textures and temperatures are good for them, teaching them to tolerate what they can and ultimately, pushing them to test their own limits. 

       Seems a little odd perhaps to equate going barefoot to something deeper...and maybe it is odd but I know it is working for us, the simplicity of removing a layer of protection and going a little naked. If it toughens the soles, maybe it has an effect on the soul as well, the spirit reveling in its wild and uninhibited nature. 

       And as for me, as much as I love shoes (shopping for them, buying and wearing them, each with its own purpose and occasion), I enjoy the sensory aspects of going without from time to time myself. Now that isn't to say I challenge myself to tread across hot coals or dash into a snowbank. No, I think merely walking in the ticklish grass and shifting sands should suffice. If I really want a simple thrill, I test my balance and endurance on a gravel drive sometimes, take myself back in memory and spirit to the years I spent maturing my own summer feet.