I have a lifelong war with socks. I never wear matching socks - it’s a habit since adolescence, and that has made my tense relationship with socks (and shoes) a little better, but we’re still basically enemies.
I have a LOT of socks, and at any given time, at least half have holes in them - and I swear those holes heal and reappear at random intervals.
Each day, when I'm done with work, the first thing I do is kick off my shoes.
There’s a song that says “I like to sleep late in the morning’, I don’t like to wear no shoes.”, and this is how I would prefer things to be, but they aren’t that way (yet, anyway). It’s weird - having no shoes to wear is the very definition of poverty, but conversely, it’s a common definition of freedom, too. It all depends on whether you’re barefoot by choice or by circumstance, I guess!
Most doctors will say barefoot is the healthiest way for feet to be treated. Our good friends the Abbots have embraced this notion in a way that earns my admiration, and I think they are better off for it (being barefoot, that is - I doubt my admiration affects them at all.)
At home I try to get barefoot as much as possible. We have old (100+ years) hardwood floors with wicked, ancient 6 inch splinters, but I have learned to step lively. I love to play onstage barefoot, too. I instantly feel connected to the room and the music. I saw Crosby Stills and Nash play years ago, and Graham Nash was barefoot, and I thought that was totally cool, and I try to emulate that when I can.
I don’t like having cold feet, so during the winter, my barefootin’ is curtailed. Wearing slippers without socks, or just padding around in socks is the next best thing - maybe that’s why my socks have holes half the time. Or do half of my socks have holes half the time? I dunno - I can’t keep track. I think I am going to hold a trial at my house this weekend, and sentence any socks with holes to the garbage, then go buy some fresh ones, to get me through the winter months.
When I have a vacation, it usually involves wearing footwear. That’s why I like vacations in the tropics so much, I guess. The weather’s been SO hot lately, I’ve had to wear sandals outside most of the time, and that’s the next best thing to being barefoot. I think my feet appreciate what I’m trying to do for them.
By Bruce Campbell
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