Today as I listened to my youngest grandson ask permission to use the computer, just out of bed, I saw myself, at almost seven years old, and what I was doing at that age, when this technology that has captivated me did not exist.
I had an eagerness to play with dirt that made me keep my nails and knees dirty. I was born in a city almost entirely made of cement. Sometimes they would take us to the beach and I would spend the whole time playing with the sand on the shore, until my parents decided that it was enough and put me in the sea, I would scream like crazy, the salt water would get in my nose and eyes with every wave.
In the Médanos of Apure State
When we moved to another city, to my maternal grandmother's house, while ours was being built, I was seven years old; that fine powder that ran through my fingers was a fascination.
They kept me shod, but the time came when they bought me flip-flops and every time I could I took them off to put my feet in that hot sunny land and feel that pleasant sensation that I still remember.
What a thing life has, that is what they call connection with the earth and they attribute healing properties to it. Now that I could do it because there will be no one to reproach me, I don't do it. My passage from girl to woman took away that secret pleasure.
As I write this post I remembered that one of the recommendations of a cousin to balance me and lower my anxiety was to put my feet on the ground; at home I only have a rectangle of land where I have a small garden. But now that I am visiting my son in another state there is a huge yard. What if I did that now?
I did, I went down to the yard and I have walked barefoot on the dirt floor, I have wiggled my toes and felt the fine sand. Will I have made a connection? I don't think so, have I? It's a new sensation, if you will. That exhilaration I felt when I put my feet in the dirt in my childhood is gone.
This was something unusual, I felt the sensation in my feet, I wiggled my toes, I walked, I won't say it was unpleasant and I think I will repeat it, if that exercise helps to balance me along with the medications I am taking, welcome. Sunday I return home and I will not be able to do it there.
Today, feeling the earth in my feet, rescuing memories
A few years ago I visited some sand dunes in the state of Apure, three hours or so from where I am at the moment, there the emotion of walking barefoot was intense. The feet sink into the warm sand and it is very relaxing. I will show you a picture.
I remember that as a child I played a lot of hide and seek, we ran a lot, we also hid objects so that someone would find it and in turn it was his turn to hide it. He would jump rope, throw a ball against the wall or bounce it. My grandchildren play a lot, but they also get caught up in technology and if it were up to them they would spend all day glued to the screen. Fortunately, their parents have controlled that and the use of electronic games is on a schedule.
It was nice to be reminded of this. Thank you for your kind reading.
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I used the translator DeepL