Monday, August 12, 2013

Spoonful of Peanut Butter

It would be a fingerful of peanut butter if I weren't married to a germaphobe. We were married at least six years before he would let me drink off his straw. That was when our one and only child was old enough to sip, so all straws (and cups, and spoons, and sandwiches, and french fries) were fair game. The germ barrier lowered a notch or two; but as a courtesy peanut butter means a spoon (and no double dipping) or a knife and bread. Coming full circle, the toddler is a now a teen and following in his germaphobe dad's footsteps. And we're back to our own straws.

Apart from how I eat my peanut butter, the question is why I eat peanut butter at all. Isn't it just for kids??? My bangs would be nearly grey if I didn't dye them, so maybe PB&J's don't fit my "stage of life". That's my point: I'm still a kid at heart, and so is every other senior I really know. Even if the outside shows the years, the inside is still the child who wants to spin around and yell "Yippee!" when we're happy and howl at the moon when we're sad. And laugh until it hurts. Adventure, whimsy, aspirations and dreams are as much for mature types as for youth. So I will still eat my peanut butter, and sing silly songs, and lay flat on the grass to look at the stars, even if I creak as I get down there, and groan as I get up. 

That reminds me of a time I got caught laying in the grass in the daytime. It was over a year ago when I read an article on a therapy called "earthing" where the goal was to get your bare feet in contact with Mother Earth. The reasoning was that natural electromagnetic flows in the earth can help align your body's electrical currents to correct health problems and energize your whole system. Daily earthy contact was recommended for at least thirty minutes at a time. Because I suffer from severe neuropathy in my feet I decided to give it a try.

I went outside in the side yard away from the curious eyes of our downstairs neighbors. I knew I was clearly visible from the sidewalk, but I figured it was a quiet afternoon, with the neighborhood children in school and their parents still at work or busy inside. I gently lowered myself into the humid grass, still damp down deep from the night's sprinklers, adjusting my bare feet, legs and arms to the prickly feeling of the cut blades and the damp smell of dirt and green (and other smells I didn't really want to think about). I watched the white clouds puff up and scurry across the sky as darker clouds approached in the far distance bringing an afternoon rain storm. I watched several jet trails stretch out their straight streamers to be quickly scrubbed away by the winds high above. I concentrated on keeping as much of me in contact with the ground as possible, ignoring any little creeping things and how hard the ground was getting after about fifteen minutes of "earthing," I closed my eyes and concentrated on feeling the energizing currents racing through my arms and legs and being healthy. I listened to the birds and the sounds of an occasional car passing by, hoping they didn't notice this weird lady lying in the grass without even a blanket beneath her. I tried to relax and let go of worry when I gradually became aware of a stillness or presence hovering near me. I opened my eyes to see our elderly neighbor, Avis, bending over me with a look of great concern in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Oh yes, I'm fine! I'm just fine" I reassured her.

"I saw you lying here on the ground not moving, and I was afraid something was wrong!"

I didn't know Avis well, and didn't want to try to explain 'earthing'. "No, I just came out to relax and enjoy the beautiful day." As a storm is blowing in.

"Okay, as long as you're okay."

"Thank you for worrying, but I'm fine." So I laid there trying to act nonchalant in my damp greenery as Avis walked back to her driveway, shaking her head slightly as she got in her car and drove away. I guess she couldn't see the kid laying in the grass. I lasted a full twenty-five minutes before raindrops drove me inside. I haven't been earthing again except for the occasional barefoot walk through the grass.

Enough peanut butter for today. My plan is to share my dibs and dabs, views and finds, especially those that appeal to the kid in me--and hopefully the kid in you, too.




1 comment:

Kari Nitzel said...

Welcome to the Blogging world, love your post, it makes me want to go out and enjoy a moment of earthing.
I also have a blog, but I haven't blogged in over a year, better get back on it.