Come Saturday Morning: Confessions of an Orphan Sock Queen
My compulsive nature surfaces every time I do laundry and - after folding and putting everything away - I'm left with a pile of unmatched socks. Rationalizing that the mates will surface in the next wash, I lay them aside and bring them out again when the next laundry day rolls around. Sometimes the socks match up. Usually they don't. And so more orphan socks come to join a growing mismatched family that lives in a wicker picnic hamper.
I cannot throw these socks out. No joke. Some are older than I care to admit. Funny thing is, once they match up, then I have no problem giving them the old heave-ho. But there's something about incompleteness that bothers me. So I hang onto them until - through pairing them - I achieve sock closure.
The Sisterhood of the Recovered Socks
Sometimes, when we move furniture and an old sock appears under a sofa, or behind a chest of drawers, I triumphantly hold it up and say, "A-ha!" And after it's washed and if/when it's matched to another orphan sock, the satisfaction I feel is almost embarrassing. I didn't lose faith - I didn't throw the other sock out - and now the two are reunited.
Isn't this stupid of me? Am I crazy? Or is this a smaller manifestation of a larger issue - the need to put things right in the world? The need to exercise control where I can, since so much of life is beyond control?
Orphan Socks: Of Global Concern
Tanja Cilia understands my sock obsession, which apparently is a universal concern the world over (at least for some.) As a blogger for the Times of Malta, she writes about her own experiences in "Sock it to me." It all originated with Karina Fabian, a writer who willy-nilly decided orphan socks needed their own week.
I was this close to pitching the whole picnic hamper full of socks a couple weeks ago. Not anymore. Orphan socks unite!
"Come Saturday Morning," a song released by the Sandpipers in 1970, describes a day in which nothing particularly important or significant happens - yet somehow the moment becomes memorable. Every Saturday morning, I'll try to post something that's in keeping with this theme. If you have thoughts or ideas - or would like to contribute - email me.
Related article: Socks Not Included: NSF Funds Search for Key's to Life's Greatest Secrets
Comments
Thanks for joining us in Orphan Sock Blog Week!
This actually started as a joke between me and fellow author Susan Kirkland, but has it grown! (For a list of links I know about, check out my blog on www.fabianspace.com; I’ll be adding yours.)
Great article. I, too, have socks that my children can no longer wear, just waiting pitifully for a mate. The kids turn them into crafts, from puppets to scabbards for their light sabers.
Thanks again. Let’s do it again next year!
Ok… here’s the SWM confession on this issue… I too keep the orphaned socks in the sock drawer… but as spares. I have a ton of white cotton, grey cotton… etc pairs… You never know when one will wear out. So, I have spares for my pairs.
And if the color is close enough… orphans often get mated up.
Of course… then there’s the underwear drawer.