I met my good friend Julie in my sophomore year of college. We moved in together as juniors and had a great laugh. The first place we lived together was this tiny tiny dorm room. Our families helped us cram our junk into that room. I was a bit apprehensive about living with her. Would she discover my not-so-secret signature messiness and be disgusted with me? Her mother, who I hadn't met until that day, pointed out a little space behind Julie's bed and indicated that Julie's dirty clothes would soon be residing there. I knew I had met my messy soul mate.
At one point when doing laundry together Julie theorised that mismatching socks were actually a good thing. Socks were meant to be in pairs, just not colour pairs. She thought that they would tumble around in the dryer and perhaps meet their cosmic match which meant a blue and a red could be paired off together. It seemed like the perfect justification for never wearing matching socks. I never did anyway but I embraced mismatching socks with a new found gusto.
Truthfully I never thought more about it until recently. One of Nana's friends made a throw away comment about cupcake not wearing matching socks. It is nearly impossible to keep those little socks in order especially going into the laundry. Once they become separated it is inevitable that the pairs will be broken up. But something else about this bothered me. Had this woman never watched Punky Brewster? Surely mismatching socks must be some sign of creativity? Dark purple and light turquoise look so much cooler together! What kid wouldn't go nuts for choice? Why limit them? Uniformity is boring, I say let's embrace mismatching socks.
