(Barefoot) and fancy free!

I've long been enamoured with the idea of having the ability to go barefoot at will.  I'm often envious of people I see who I've noticed walk around barefoot in their daily lives.  Although the idea may seem to have romantic origins in the concept of the "noble savage", there doesn't seem to be any real reason, outside of social convention rooted in the Victorian zeitgeist, to not feel comfortable going barefoot most all the time.  "Barefoot-ness" is, after all, how the majority of the worlds human population conducts itself (not to mention all of the earths non-human population).

Although the idea of it has been tumbling around in my head since at least early high school, I had never really given it much thought until I discovered a book about thirteen years ago titled "The Barefoot Hiker" by Ritchard Frazine.  Later I discovered Tom Brown Jr. and his concept of "fox walking".  Still later I discovered Cody Lundin and was inspired by his 20+ years of going barefoot and his "The More You Know The Less You Need" ethic.  Despite this, I still couldn't muster the courage to shed my apprehension of  going "shodless".  This all changed this morning.

For reasons that I'll not go into here (a whole other story in itself) I took my car out to get some fast food tonight but ended up having to walk home, which was 3.68 miles (thank you MapQuest).  I don't mind walking, and in fact enjoy it quite a bit.  This is a good thing, considering I didn't get my drivers license until I was 26 yrs old.  Unfortunately, because I was driving and had only intended to go out for a short period of time, I didn't wear any sock.  This caused me to start getting some blisters on my feet on the way home.  I just couldn't walk with the "hot spots", so I took off my shoes and walked home barefoot for 1.22 miles (again, thank you MapQuest).  To my surprise, this was a very enjoyable and--dare I say it--"enlightening" experience.  Even more so considering I walked primarily on concrete and asphalt. 

I was amazed at the the sensitivity my feet had and how not painful it was. Everything felt cool and refreshing.  I actually felt JOY when I walked across a golf course as a shortcut (I know, I know. I really shouldn't have, but I got a giggle thinking about what the early bird golfers will think when they see barefoot prints going across the green :-).  The feel of the squishy mud and grass going between my toes was exhilarating! The cold wet grass felt wonderful!  Frankly, I don't have the words to adequately describe it and trying to do so makes me think I'm beginning to sound like a "hippie-dippy tree hugging dirt worshiper".

Needless to say, I think I'm going to start making a walk around the block a daily--or at least twice or thrice-weekly--habit, to get my feet conditioned. I'll also attempt to do a couple of barefoot hikes once the weather gets better.