Going Barefoot

When I was growing up it was a sure sign that summer had arrived when I could be free of my shoes and go barefoot.

The problem was I've always had wimpy feet. My friend, Cyndy, had tough ones. She could even walk on a gravel road without watching where she placed each and every step. I admired her greatly for that talent. Even by the end of the summer, the gravel in front of our homes was still off limits to my tender tootsies. They just didn't develop the calluses needed to brave the rocks.

My feet did, however, develop such a deeply dirt-stained color that even after I donned shoes and socks for school in August, my feet wouldn't come completely clean until sometime around Christmas.

Well, as of this week, finals will be over, the graduates will have graduated and summer will have arrived. But while feet may have declared freedom from shoes for summer, there are no bare feet around my house anymore.

Today's summer arrival is heralded by flip-flops.

Who would have ever thought that those cheap, waffley-plastic, beach shoes no self-respecting tourist would have worn anywhere but the beach, could ever become fashionable? Next will it be fashion couture wet suits on the runways of Milan?

(Maybe I shouldn't give them any ideas.)

My boys love to wear flip-flops. I do understand why they are the preferred footwear for the beach. And I have even gone gaga over some really, really cute sandals that were technically stylish flip-flops. But still, I almost flipped out when one of my older boys told me how much he'd paid for a pair, simply because they had some surfer dude's name on the sole.

A few years ago there was an uproar about a women's sports team visiting the White House and meeting the President in flip-flop-style shoes. Hey, they had heels – which in my book are enough self-sacrifice to honor royalty.

Oh, and last summer I actually saw some strapless flip-flops – they were just the sole with an adhesive that would stick to your foot. If only I'd had a pair of those, way back when – Cyndy would have been so impressed.
I couldn't pull it off, now. Alas, my feet are still wimpy and now old age and/or tendonitis have pretty much pushed any shoe as flat as flip-flops off my fashion footwear list. I can only wear them around the house a short time before my arches start complaining.

I guess now I'm like Robert Redford when he played the uptight, “stuffed shirt” lawyer in “Barefoot in the Park.”
Maybe I should just put on my lace-up shoes and head over to the Ice House Theatre. The Visalia Community Players are putting on their rendition of Neil Simon's longest running Broadway show.

You, too, can go “barefoot in the park” any Friday through Sunday between June 6 and June 22, either at 7:30 p.m. or at 2 p.m. at the Sunday matinees. It only costs $10 – $5 if you're a student. Call 734-3900 or visit www.visaliaplayers.org for more info.

Elicia Russell is directing the play. It stars Summer Robinson as the free-spirited Corie Bratter, and Paul Bratter, the uptight attorney, will be played by local attorney, Daniel Underwood. That doesn't necessarily mean that Daniel Underwood is uptight; he might be able to walk barefoot on gravel for all I know.

Besides, I'd be uptight, too, if I had to live in the horrible apartment depicted in the play. Five flights of stairs and no elevator, strange neighbors, bad plumbing and no heat. There was even a skylight that let snow in through a gaping hole – I wouldn't even be able to go barefoot in my own home. I'd have to wear flip-flops. But at least my feet would stay clean.

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