Thursday, May 8, 2008

The Subject is Socks

In looking for a subject this blog, I sometimes research that day's particular holiday. I found out that today is No Sock Day. But more importantly, tomorrow is Lost Sock Memorial Day. According to various websites, tomorrow is the day to gather all those single socks, pay your respects to their memories and missing mates, and move on.

I know all about lost socks. When my house was a home of five, I had a basket into which I placed all single socks. I would regularly go through the basket, matching up those that I could. When Molly and Maribeth moved into their house, the sock basket went with them (to which I occasionally visit and match up socks again). While I no longer have a basket for lost socks, I currently do have a stack of five singletons on a shelf in my laundry room, waiting for their matches to appear.

All of this leads me to this thought - tomorrow it is suggested that I let go of these singles and move on. I wonder how many other things I should let go, because the matching part is no longer here? What about the grudge I have against the person who is no longer my friend? What about the pair of pants that no longer can be squeezed over my hips? What about the dish with the chip on the corner?

Maybe tomorrow it's time to stop hanging on to some things, waiting for the needed part to appear before it can be used. Maybe tomorrow I use the single socks for dusting. Maybe I take the pants to Goodwill. Maybe I take the dish to the recycle bin. Maybe I let go of the grudge and make a new friend. Maybe tomorrow I use it or recycle it or get rid of it, and move on.

Tomorrow I'm going to match up those five socks. I'm going to match them up with something else I need to take action on, and do it. My sock shelf will be clear, temporarily, because socks disappear everyday. But maybe that's how we can learn to move on from one thing to the next - by taking it one sock at a time.

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