Free and Equal Socks

I wear mismatched socks.

It began two years ago, this October, under very intentional conditions. I began wondering to myself one day why I, personally, wear matching socks all the time. Do I do it because that's the way it is, or because they come paired already and it's convenient? But what if you lose one, or one wears a little quicker than the other. Now you have an orphan on your hands and instead of dealing with the emotions of an orphaned sock we throw it out in the trash. We punish good socks for being more resilient than it's partner. Shame. And somewhat wasteful if you ask me.

So I decided that I will not let society dictate how I protect my feet from abrasive surfaces and temperature. I freed my socks that day in October. They were allowed to live as one community, existing as equal foot wear. Little did I know that this simple act of consciously matching ones socks would lead to a small pleasure that only I share.

Naturally, as time progressed I governed that box of socks and created criteria and personal preference in the expression of cotton protection. There is now a system in place that is efficient and fool proof. Mismatched, but similar because I want them to be, not because that's what everyone else is doing. I hate to admit that in the beginning of administration much time was spent deciding that day's pairing. I think I was late to work once because I was having difficulty deciding which two to put together.

I know I'm not alone in this. I know several other people that choose to don mismatched socks, for their individual reasons of course. But I am aware of it, and I still like to play a little.