Barefoot in Longwood Gardens
By Scratch
I was fortunate to spend a day with my oldest brother at a place called Longwood Gardens. It's a remarkable place and quite beautiful. But I expanded its beauty on this most recent trip because I spent much of my time there barefoot. I have seen the flowers there many times before, but this was the first time that I experienced walking over the pathways. Truthfully enough, the asphalt pathways were nothing remarkable, but the areas where there were smooth stone pathways were delightful. So were the places where we could walk upon the grass in the meadow area and the dirt and wood chips in the woods. I felt quite happy to touch upon the many different textures. I enjoyed it, my feet enjoyed it. Seriously. Think about that if you're someone who lives in shoes most of the time. You may not understand it. But think about what it might be like if you were to have lived most of your life in a blindfold, and then about a year ago, that blindfold was removed. At first, the removal of the blindfold would be a bit overwhelming. But then later on, because you've removed that blindfold, you would then be able to see some of the flowers that I'll put in at the end of this blog entry.
That's what it was like for my feet. They have been learning to see over this past year. They are now the sensory organs that evolution gave to me and gave to you as well, if you should decide to stop putting them into blindfolds.
Longwood Gardens is a beautiful place to visit and walk around. Its beauty grows even more so when you walk it with all your senses, including those at the bottom of your feet.
I was told at one point by someone that I needed to put shoes on. That made me rather unhappy and I didn't think fast enough to pull my smartphone out of my pocket and look up to confirm at their website if shoes were required. The only item about footwear says, "We recommend wearing sturdy walking shoes." I suppose that's good for people who have underdeveloped feet, but mine are well beyond that now. So after looking that up on my smartphone, I then removed the pair of Xeros I had carried with me, and was prepared to handle any more challenges to my ability to walk the grounds barefoot.
As always, you can read about other thoughts and adventures concerning barefootedness and barefoot running on my blog, Becoming Shoeless.. If you like what read there and want to get notifications on Facebook that I've posted something new, please visit the Becoming Shoeless Facebook page and like it to receive notices in your Facebook feed that there's something new.