Friday, October 20, 2006

Socks, individually and in pairs

Ten years’ marriage doesn’t iron out all kinks, obviously.
Here’s a recent bone of contention. Julie and I have different sock-matching techniques. Not that I match random socks while she takes care to match only like items. I’m that advanced, too.
No, it’s that stragglers that get treated differently by us.
Any socks without mates that are left over, I just put in the drawer and hope, nay, expect, that the mate will eventually show up – if the mate isn’t already there awaiting a happy reunion.
Julie sets the loners aside in plain view, as a constant reminder of the socks’ misfortune and of loose threads in her life (I guess).
The other night, Julie got rather frustrated with my technique because she ran into several loners in drawers as she was putting socks away.
In her defense, she was tired and really didn’t need to be doing the laundry, except that I had sneakily piled the clean stuff on her side of the bed so she couldn’t really go to bed without confronting them in some way or another.
So yesterday I went into her sock drawer, separated some of her pairs, and hid the stragglers around the apartment. It’ll be like Easter for her when she comes home.
Is that wrong of me?

Feel free to weigh in with your reunification techniques. I'm willing to change my ways.
Maybe.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, Julie gets her habit from her mother... I too, leave the "stragglers" in plain sight BELIEVING the mate will return! John, on the other hand, leaves/hides stragglers in his drawer, so the return doesn't occur until I go into his drawer in search of the mate once the pile gets "too big"! I don't hold out much hope for you guys coming to common agreement on what to do with the stragglers, but I've had a good giggle to begin the day. Have fun with the Easter sock hunt, Julie! I love you guys!

Anonymous said...

some more productive ideas for stragglers.
- the obvious: unless they're fancy, in perfect condition or hold significant sentimental value, throw 'em out. (gasp!)
- give them new jobs as dusters. use each just a few times to dust around the house, then pitch 'em.
- cut off the toes, sew a bunch of them together, fill the tube with batting and put it at the bottoms of windows and doors to reduce drafts.
- make sock puppets!!! that's my vote, actually. if you do it, invite me over. and make oatmeal cookies.

i have too many stragglers taking up space in my own sock drawer--they're almost outnumbering the pairs. i should bring them in to work on monday and scatter them around julie's cubicle. the fun continues!!!

Anonymous said...

Have fun Julie looking for the stragglers. I put the stragglers in a see thru plastic bag and tie the bag to the back of the closet where the pairs of socks are kept. But then of course one forgets to go thru the bag all the time looking for mates. I tried buying always the same kinds of socks and when one got a hole threw it out but that didn't work either. Mama