Sock It to Me!

Every few years I try to organize and edit my closet. And inevitably, in my mostly-failed attempts, I come across a white sock with the number 30 carefully inscribed with a permanent marker on the heel. This find almost always has me howling with laughter.

A long time ago in a subdivision far far away, our friend Jessica, a young BYU student, adopted us and, at some point, practically started living at our house. Once, when she was doing laundry, we noticed that each pair of her otherwise identical white cotton quarter socks were labelled with numbers . . . let’s just say that Jessica was highly organized, maybe even a little obsessive with her things; she enjoyed keeping her world labelled and neat.

Given her personality and our family situation at the time (toddlers do not contribute to consistently tidy homes), we decided it would be hilarious to steal one of her socks. Not a pair . . . just one . . . that way she would retain a reminder of how unpredictable and disorderly life can be at times. We believed this would be beneficial to her regimented lifestyle as she loosened her psyche and moved forward.

So, with a nudge and a wink, my wife and I slipped a sock from the dryer and carefully hid it. (I’m not sure where we put it and, over the years, it has travelled from place to place, surfacing when least expected.)

In 1999 my wife suggested that we create some pictures of interesting places that 30 Sock had travelled to, then we could send the sock and the pictures to Jessica and have a good laugh. Well, I built some photos and then 30 Sock again went missing. Then every few years 30 would reappear. And I would laugh every time.

Now Thirdee Socks has her own facebook page. And, if you are silly (go ahead, take a moment and decide), you are welcome to go and visit the photo gallery.

Travels of 30

Socks are important but friends more so. In the near future, we intend to travel to Florida and deliver Thirdee to her rightful owner. If we can find it.