Walking Barefoot in the Grass

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Life as a kid was simple. Maybe it just seemed simple in hind-sight, but really, what did we have to worry about except the atomic bomb in the 1950s? Summer's were spent riding bikes to the corner grocery store to buy penny candy, playing kick-the-can in the alley with the neighbor kids until the street lights came on, playing hop-scotch, flying kites, catching fireflies, hanging upside down on the jungle gym, and sitting in the grass picking dandelions with one or two of my six siblings.

Lying on the grass, looking at billowy clouds as they changed shapes drifting high above us, suggested, even represented, change. Life itself can seem as nebulous.

I can't bring back those years. They are gone. I can't even recreate them. The closest I get to the ground is walking around in my bare feet watering the lawn, or sitting outside on my lawn chair with my bare feet on the ground, soaking up those free electrons the earth gives us. Hop-scotch, forget it. To lay on the grass would be a major effort, not so much getting down there, but getting back up would be a chore (although, I might just try it, when no one is looking and I have a back-up I can call). Siblings all have their own families and we no longer live in the same household, although, we have mentioned that when we get older, older then we are now, we should buy a big house together and live in it. I'm not sure that would work very well, it would have to be a BIG house. I can see the seven of us playing bumper cars with our scooter chairs on the lawn, saying, as we run into one another, "Who the Hell are you!" Life has sure changed since those days of dandelion picking. 

It's always changing, taking on new shapes, with new possibilities. My life has changed many times since those days. I've lived several different kinds of lives, and yet, I'm still me, just more so (and I'll leave it to your imagination what that means). Now is different too. To long for what was would keep me from finding new ways to live now, for instance seeking new groups to enjoy like-minded activities, or walking barefoot instead of lying on the grass.