Everything feels better against bare skin.

Have you ever paid attention to the way things really feel? I don’t mean the way blankets feel soft or the way fire feels hot. I mean the way they really, really feel. As a very ticklish person, I’ve always been hyperaware of what it feels like to be touched. For a long time I didn’t like to be touched for just that reason. It drove me insane to think of things touching me without knowing how they really feel, but I’ve gotten much more comfortable with being touched. I’ve learned to love to feel. I’ve grown to love the way cold concrete makes my bare foot arch. I can stand on the beach and feel every grain of sand shift beneath my toes when the waves roll in and out. I love the way my hair dances against my cheek when the wind blows. I look forward to sinking into my pillow and letting it form a soft castle around my head right before I fall asleep. My favourite feeling though, and I mean absolute favourite, is the way skin feels against skin. Whether it’s a hand touching a hand, a cheek touching a shoulder, or lips touching lips, the feeling is one of the best in the world. It makes me sad to think that people usually take the way these things feel for granted too. There’s something exciting about that invisible line between two things that is broken right before they touch. I can’t even articulate the feeling of skin on skin, that’s how wonderful it is. Think about it; what does skin on skin feel like? The only answer that comes to mind is, of course, “skin”. I don’t think that’s an acceptable answer. It’s so much more than just skin touching skin.

But anyway, I had an urge to write about the way things feel because I was playing with a lighter and my mother told me to stop because I was going to burn myself. I saw it differently though. Sure every time I stuck my finger in the flame, it felt hot but the flame seemed to do more than just burn me. It engulfed my finger. It danced around my finger. It touched my finger. Then I got to thinking about how everything seems to feel better against bare skin and this was what I ended up with.

The next time something touches you, feel it.