Odd Socks and OCD….
The Sock Eater
I used to call my washer “The Sock Eater”. Two socks go in, only one comes out.
Disappointed again…..
I kept all the odd socks for our family of five. I was the self appointed “Keeper of the Socks”. It started out small, a little kitchen garbage bag, but my collection grew over time.
We lost socks. We bought more. I tried to buy socks of the same length and colour but I could not control what others bought for themselves or what was gifted.
My odd sock collection grew despite all my attempts to scour the house for partner socks. I now had not one small kitchen bag, not two, but 3 LARGE garbage bags of unmatched socks of assorted sizes, lengths and colours.
Hope seemed to spring eternal that I would find the partner somewhere, someday. Indeed, each time the sock bags were dragged out, there were occasional “finds’ and great celebration on my part, not that anyone else in the house cared! The sock collection, however, continued to grow, despite all efforts.
I began to colour code them to make sorting easier….
I thought of dyeing them all so they could all be used……
Does anyone suspect OCD? 😉
It took many years and much frustration for me to finally decide one momentous day…….to let the socks go. I sat on the floor, surrounded by this hopelessly vast array of unmatched socks and admitted my defeat. These socks had to GO!!!!
Taking all my courage and dread in hand, just knowing I’d live to regret my decision because, the minute I disposed of them, I’d suddenly locate all the other sides of these socks in some miraculous fashion, off I went to the nearest garbage can!
Wow! What freedom! No more careful and dedicated drudgery to the sock situation. No more guilt that I had not done enough.
No more odd socks to haunt my laundry days!
NEVER AGAIN!
Fast forward several years. I am babysitting my granddaughter, while my son is in Afghanistan.
My granddaughter loves multicolored socks and had quite a few of them scattered throughout the house. I made a valiant effort to rally the socks, with her help, and pair them up, but it was tough. They were multicolored in so many different ways, it seemed. I left potential partner socks on the drier and checked for the occasional find. I was getting nowhere fast. I bought her plain socks which she hated.
My granddaughter did not really care whether or not her socks matched, as long as they were colourful. It did bother me and I tried my best to share my vision of a world of matched socks, but she had no interest and eventually purposely mismatched socks most days, even though I had previously carefully matched them.
Haha! It makes me smile 😉
Another 2 years go by…….
I’m happy to say that I am quite over this addiction. It was rather sad and only accommodated my OCD tendencies.
No, wait a minute….I know I put two socks in that washer and here there is only one! Ah, I’ll just add it to the sock drawer.
Maybe the partner will show up some day soon….. 😉
Tee hee! 😉
AJ 🙂
(the pic below is rather a sad afterthought)
24 comments on “Odd Socks and OCD….”
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Ann's Corner 
That’s fabulous Ann. I’ll add a link to your post from mine and here’s a link to my sock drama: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/where-have-all-the-odd-socks-gone/
By the way, Ann, I can also relate to your trials and tribulations with your grand-daughter. She sounds much like my daughter. I remember once she told me that she thought my clothes were boring because they don’t have pictures on them and she also loves anything that sparkles. I have been teaching her to play the keyboard to prepare her for her audition for the Sound of Music and she fought me tooth and nail because she couldn’t make the connection between singing and the keyboard. Humph! Here’s the link: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/climb-every-mountain-singing-towards-her-dream/
xx Rowena.
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Pingback: Where Have All the Odd Socks Gone? | beyondtheflow
Hehe!
Thanks for sharing it!
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I love this post. My daughters do the same thing,wearing miss-matched socks. I still feel a little strange letting them go out in public like this. Lol
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Hehe! 🙂
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I loved this story so much! I too am the keeper of lost socks. Now if I can’t find their partners I turn them into sock puppets. Great story I related to I also loved the title as I’m sure I’m undiagnosed OCD. ☺️
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Glad it resonated with you!
I don’t feel so alone! 😉
Ann
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Oh no you’re not, lost socks are my nemesis in life. But since I started making sock puppets it’s a good excuse to buy more craft supplies. 😉
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Cool! 🙂
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Thank you. 😃
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Reblogged this on Dream Big, Dream Often and commented:
This is Ann’s Corner!!
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Thanks so much! 🙂
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My pleasure!
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Constant battle here too. We refer to it as The Land of the Missing Left Sock. I have no idea where they go?!? 😃
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Is there a Land of Missing Right Socks too? If so, they should get together! 😉
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The Right socks live in a small basket on top of our dryer. The Left ones are more rebellious I guess. 🙂
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Haha! 😉
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I JUST matched up the socks in my sock bag. I say MY sock bag and not my family’s because I’m the only one who would even bother to check where the missing socks went! No unmatched socks in our drawers, but that sock bag sure gets full fast 😉
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Yes! I know! 😉
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Oh this is priceless. I have two bag of odd socks. I thought I had it down to only one, but found its sneaky partner in the back bedroom.
Years ago there was a discussion in the local newspaper’s letters to the editor. The universal agreement was that all washing machines are interconnected and that your strays end up in someone else’s machine. The final evidence came from the guy who lived alone but found odd socks he’d never owned in his washing machine.
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Too funny! 😉
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Gasp! My grown up daughter never matches the socks; they just all go in the drawer in a heap. Did you know that you can even buy sets of three mismatched socks. She does. Yes. they come that way! What is the world coming to?
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Oh dear!
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Oh, how I love this post! I know the sock wars all too well. I was so happy when my husband liked the same socks – crew socks in black. He has a few pairs of heavy socks but these are easy to match and somewhat harder to lose. The black socks get paired up as they are picked up and if there is an extra it gets thrown in the drawer. I look after a few kids who love the colourful socks as well and I had a very hard time, at first, getting used to the fact that they would NOT wear matching socks, but now I even do it once in awhile myself!
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