Barefoot (To Mya)

Barefoot

I am glad it is summer now and you can go barefoot.
You fight with your shoes anyway. Sometimes your
feet don’t seem to fit in them easily, especially with
socks. And the straps of your shoes often come loose
as you walk. You trip. Or the shoe just comes off.
Somehow. It’s so much easier to go barefoot after all
when you walk inside the house, on the deck, or
in the soft grass of the front yard. Do you like the feel
of grass on your feet as much as I do? Do you like to
feel warm concrete beneath your toes? Do you like
your feet to be free and uncontained, nothing pressing
on them? You do need shoes when you walk to the car,
ride your bike, shop, take a walk down the street.
You know that, I think, but still delight in kicking them
off and pretending it was an accident. Sorry, Grandma.