Seven Socks

Seven socks without matches. Every time I washed a load of laundry, they would appear at the bottom of the basket as if mocking me. I did what every normal person would do; I put them back in the hamper to be washed again. It's like I believed that in the world of washing, drying, and folding, their mates would magically appear, and they would be reunited in grand ceremony before I transported them to the appropriate sock drawer to live happily ever after. I must have washed them hundreds of times but none of the socks was ever reunited with its mate. I don't know why I let it go on for so long. The other day, as I finished folding, I decided enough was enough. I scooped them up and threw them in the trash. The weight of the 'unmatchables' was immediately lifted and like the feeling you get when you balance your checkbook and come out to the penny, it was amazing. Why did I let the cycle of nonsense continue so long when it took 30 seconds to throw them away? So much of day-to-day life is completed on autopilot, and we rush from one thing to the next. The silver lining of the pandemic was that when everything shut down, we had time to think. Thinking lead to clarity and it was what prompted so many moves, job changes, and lifestyle changes. People who had been maintaining the status quo realized their lives could be simpler, less stressful, and ultimately happier. I read story after story about a shift to being more mindful and the impact even small changes had on the quality of life. Little by little, life returned to normal, and autopilot is once again overriding mindful decision making.

I know there will be other socks without matches. I hope that when I find them, they remind me to slow down, even if it’s just for a minute. If washing and drying those socks repeatedly symbolized the busywork of life, throwing them away represented productivity. I don't want to be on a wash, dry, repeat cycle, always busy but never getting anywhere. Now that I think about it, those socks were pretty wise, maybe I shouldn't have thrown them away.