Saturday, June 07, 2008

jump

While out walking today I made up my mind to begin risking looking like a nut in favor of doing things that amuse me, because we don't know what this life will bring, and it's really something when you think about the fact that you've got a finite number of times to see the moon, or a dog, or to hear a friend laugh. All our days are numbered. It may seem unfair, but think about this: even the sun is dying; the earth cannot rotate forever.

With this tinkling around inside me, I walked through a field next to a busy street barefoot. The end of the field loomed much too soon, so I made circles for a while. Big circles and little circles, to stretch the moment and drown the discomfort of imaginary judgment.

When I was a child, I loved going barefoot in the summertime. Cool dirt, hot concrete, damp asphalt -- it all belonged to me. I even loved the part where I had to put my shoes back on, because that meant it was time to go inside the carryout for pop and candy, after which would come bare feet again.

Funny the things we give up because we think it's time. We do this even as time spreads plots of grass before us.

5 comments:

Adrienne said...

Funny the things we give up because we think it's time.

OMG, that is SO true!

Anonymous said...

Agreed. That's one of the wonderful things about having kids. You do all this "crazy" stuff and nobody thinks you're crazy because you've got a kid with you. You can borrow mine if you want to get crazier. LOL.

Anonymous said...

Good for you, wish I was there to join you...

You want to try living here in the land of the walking dead! dead dead dead...no spirit...
Need I say more?

Heather

Frank said...

"Big circles and little circles, to stretch the moment and drown the discomfort of imaginary judgment."

I believe you've hit the the nail on the head. As did Michael Foucault when he compared modern society to a prison design that was being pushed at the time called, "panopticon."

Basically we're so afraid someone is going to see us do something "wrong" or even "silly" that we monitor ourselves.

So at some point Carla my sweet, you were afraid of someone telling you that it's wrong, unsanitary, blah blah blah for you to walk barefoot in so you didn't do it.

I'm glad you've reclaimed that simple pleasure! We can keep a list of things we're going to reclaim!

Anonymous said...

Children aren't afraid of how they look to others. I think the thing that we give up is confidence.