Tales of the Ticklish: Tickled By Strangers? True Stories!

   

Pretty much how my bare feet were dangling
off the arm of that
Stonybrook University library couch!

     It's crazy how things work out sometimes. On a blog that was created, over two years ago, to talk about the fun of going barefoot in life (as much as humanly possible), and the silly, funny uniqueness of a big dude who gets crazy colors & nail designs on his toes during pedicures, the thing that STILL dominates my writing (because it gets the most replies, AND definitely gets, by far, the most blog reads), are hilarious stories about tickling bare feet! People simply LOVE ticklish feet, even if they never admit it because they think it's "weird"! I mentioned before how absolutely lucky I was, growing up being super-close friends with (and still close with, now as adults) awesome girls who absolutely loved tickling feet and/or having their feet tickled, because it has filled my life with fantastic and memorably hysterical bare feet tickling moments, all of them worth sharing to make other people laugh! And yes, almost all of them have been shared here, able to be found in the previous 12 "chapters" of this blog's "Tales of the Ticklish" series, so scroll back and have some more fun after reading this! ..But the one thing that I haven't written about, until now, is the two occasions in my life where I had my bare feet tickled by complete strangers, thus proving my theory that more people love tickling feet than will ever admit to it! LOL!

     The first ticklish incident was back in my college days, at the University of Stonybrook, circa 1989-1990. I mentioned previously that, when the weather was warm enough, I would just stuff my flip-flops into my backpack, and go to all my classes barefoot, because I loved being barefoot so much, and it just felt so much better (and stress-relieving) to me to be walking around with bare feet on an 80+ degree day. (And I just never gave a sh*t about wearing shoes, which, of course, still continues to this day!) This also included library study/homework/research time, where I ALWAYS had my shoes off. Winter months had me taking off boots to walk around the library in socks, and the spring/early summer months meant happy bare feet on library carpets. I wasn't the only one, that's for sure. I distinctly & vividly remember bare feet all around that library, so I wasn't alone in my "getting comfortable" ways! The library was HUGE and had many reading areas with couches set up, not unlike a cozy living room. One day, I was laying on one of those couches, on my back, with bare feet propped up on one of the couch arms, soles exposed. I was reading some papers, so I was holding them up above my face, when, out of nowhere, I felt a long fingernail sliding up my sole, tickling my bare foot! It's well known, and I have no problem admitting to it, that I have the most ticklish feet ever.. therefore, I yelped out a laugh, and spasmed badly, as I lurched to a sitting-up position, only to see this smiling, college-age girl walking away. She was looking back at me with a huge grin as she said, "Sorry, but I couldn't resist!" (There's that line again, that we all know so well), and I was like, "Wait, you don't have to go!" (like suddenly I was gonna get a date because she tickled my feet! LOL! Hey, stranger things have happened!) ...She waved & kept walking, I never saw her again, and thus, that was the first mystery foot tickle of my life..

     Fast-forward a few years, to the late 90's, and now I am "on the job" as a NYC police officer. I was on the LIRR train home after a day tour, which ended at 3:40pm, and I remember it was brutally hot summer day, made worse by the fact that the train had little to no air-conditioning. It was a semi-empty train, I was in an aisle seat with no one next to, or across from, me, so off came the flip-flops and up went my bare feet on that empty seat across from me. I put my sunglasses on, put my head back against the headrest, and closed my eyes to attempt to get an hour of zzzzzz's before my train stop. Probably two, maybe three, minutes passed by (because the train hadn't pulled out yet, as stragglers were still getting on), when I was jolted by the sensation of fingernails lightly running up my bare sole! Eyes instantly blasted open, as I once again convulsed and "yelp-laughed", almost out of the seat! This time, it was an older woman, with grey/silver hair, heading down the aisle, who had just tickled my bare feet as she was walking by and noticed them sitting there up on the seat!! Big-ass smile on her face, and she gave me a cute "Atta' boy!" pat on my shoulder as she passed by.. And what do you think she said? Yep, you got it: "Sorry, but I couldn't resist it!" ..LOL! And off she went, the 2nd mystery feet tickler that I encountered in my life!

     I have a psychology theory that those of us (myself included) who LOVE tickling feet, or having our own feet tickled (even if we can't endure it), do that almost on purpose: leave our vulnerable, bare feet in a spot to hopefully be tickled! But I think that we might not even realize that we're doing it! I think, subconsciously, we just pop our bare feet up to get comfortable while we read, nap, watch TV, play with our smartphones, etc etc., and then, somewhere deep in our brains, that part of us that craves therapeutic laughter, good feelings, or pleasant, positive human contact, hopes that someone with similar opinions about tickling will come strolling by, notice our feet, indulge their tickling urge, and then offer up that apology line that I hear played on "repeat" throughout the entirety of my very-ticklish life.. "Sorry, but I couldn't resist!!" ..I hope it continues for as long as people love laughing & making others laugh, and it never makes me mad, or annoyed, to have my feet tickled! ..Uh, if it does make you mad to have your feet tickled, you're probably taking life way too seriously, anyway.. :)

LIRR ride home last Saturday night from NYC, with my bare feet up
and relaxed. Coincidentally, this is EXACTLY how my feet were
positioned in this post's "train tickling" story! LOL!