Going Barefoot and Other Things

 

One of the summer things, I thought I might try was going barefoot. I realized that when we moved here, I never went barefoot anymore, but always kept my shoes on, when I got out of bed to when I got back in bed at night.  But I decided I would...Go barefoot.
 I have walked through wet grass, and wiggled my toes in our sandy soil. I have sat outside and propped my feet on the railings and stared at my toes. I have ran and jumped and put them in the water of the pool. It has felt nice to go barefoot this summer. It reminds me that I can slow down, I can put my feet up, I can reflect on deep things like " Why haven't I painted my toenails yet." 

 

Today I picked up my copy of Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. He has wrote other deep insightful books. Since I am in summer mode, I put it back on the shelf. I think this summer, I am going to clean off a whole shelf and put books that I am going to read starting in September. I think I will put that one there along with The Closing of the American Mind by Alan Bloom and Slouching Toward Gomorrah by Robert Bork. They have been on my book shelf for years, books I have wanted to read, but never took the time. My brain needs some challenging. I think I will put Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis and Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton.  I think I will take notes. I ran across a list I made 10 years ago of what I wanted to do with my life.

Six on that list was a Theology degree from Wheaton College. Four was  I wanted to study Philosophy.
I was teaching still and I wanted to be a better wife, a better mother and a better teacher. I also wanted grand children. That one I pondered. I still had young kids at home. Peter was nine.

 

What I found missing from that list was much more interesting. No place was blogging nor gardening.
Hooking rugs wasn't there nor was sewing. I was working on 20,000 steps a day, every day. I felt like a slacker when I only made it to 12,000 a day.
I just sat there and looked over my life now. How those things then that I thought were so important aren't now. I don't need a Theology degree, nor do I need to study philosophy. I am thankful I am a grand mother. I am thankful that what I thought I needed to be happy is so different from what I am now.

 

 Being a blogger has been the nicest surprise. Learning how to take photos. Writing out loud.
Making friends from all over the world. Having friends and sharing lives has expanded my life and changed my goals. For that I am thankful, I am thankful to be invited in to share your lives too.

I haven't said thank you in awhile. Thank you for sharing my life, for watching my struggles, and my joys. Thank you for laughing at my stories and for always leaving me such nice notes. You have blessed me and when my life was growing darker, you gave me something to look forward to every day. You have given to me far more than I could ever return to you.
So Thank you so much for coming into my life and for just being yourselves. You have given me the world. 

~Kim~

 

" You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose."
---Oh, the Places You'll go!, Dr. Seuss, 1990