officially May 1st....when Grandpa says

I'm ashamed to say that I overlooked today's date all day long.

I mean, I knew it was May 1st.  Even wrote it on my board at school and on two checks I wrote.

But I didn't really realize today......until the phone rang this evening.

I heard his voice on the other end, and I knew.

May 1st.

It meant one thing: my yearly phone call from Grandpa.

I don't know when he started this, or why, but for Russell Drudge, May 1st is synonymous with one thing: permission to go barefoot.

That was his personally designated day to grant us the right to amble around outside with no shoes on.

Maybe it's because by May 1st, it's normally warm enough to trot around barefooted.

Who knows.

But it's a given with Grandpa Russie, just as it is to hear him utter, "Well, for cat's sake."

When you grow up on a farm in the country, being barefoot is as essential as owning a pair of bib overalls.  And when your grandpa tills gardens for people who live in the country, there is no equation so sweet as barefeet plus a freshly tilled garden.  Two summers ago, my girls finally got to experience this, with dirt from Grandpa's own garden trickling between their toes.

Ah, Grandpa Russie.
It's phone calls like the one tonight that make me smile.
As expected, he asked about the weather.
Asked about the girls.
And asked why in the world I sounded tired, because I sounded tired.

Ah, Grandpa Russie.
May I never overlook the beginning of May, nor the simple pleasures of dirt between my toes.