Socks are the Achilles heel of motherhood. Pun intended.
They never match, they never stay in one place, and they all go to the dryer to die. I was cleaning my house this morning and noticed that around every corner, I would find a lone sock. None of them were the same, none of them belonged to the same child. Lost and forgotten, they lay where they fell, waiting for me to pick them up.
I've tried tons of different systems to keep up with the socks in my house. My latest is: "You're on your own. If you want socks, keep up with them." My kids put away their own laundry and each of their socks are clearly marked. If they lose them, I say it's their problem. If they can't find matching socks, they wear un-matched socks. (This is the advantage to having three boys, they don't care if they match.) I've given up trying to keep up with 8000 different foot-coverings.
So I wandered around this morning, picking up lost socks and muttering to myself. I walked into the playroom. The pictures of our three adopted Compassion children on the wall stared forlornly back at me. Suddenly I wondered if Juan, Luis, and Yibeltal had more than one pair of socks. Did they need socks? Could they get them if they did?
And my rampage against the socks ended. Instead, I kissed the small pink footie I had in my hand and walked it reverently to the laundry room. I was keenly aware of how blessed I was to be able to provide warmth for my children's feet, in an array of colors and sizes. I was embarrassed at how I took all the homeless socks for granted. And I was grateful for the little reminders, strewn all over my house, of how truly fortunate my family is.
Today I added socks to my shopping list to purchase for our Compassion boys. If you are looking for a way to minister to others, please check out the Compassion website and pray about becoming a sponsor.
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It's baffling, isn't it? Where the heck do they go? It's so bizarre and annoying, but yes, certainly nothing compared to children who have nothing. More of a mystery than anything!
Wonderful reminder, Lora Lynn.. it's so easy to take the little things for granted. But as you say, every single one of them is a blessing. I'd do well to remember that more often. Thank you.
Hmmm, this may change how I deal with my daughter's leaving the socks around habit… ideas are percolating…
Thanks for helping us to see all those little socks as the blessings that they are. Sometimes we get tripped up by just how blessed we are (and I don't mean just by the socks). Thanks to your post, I am going to strive to see that most of the things that annoy me really are blessings and acknowledge that I just need to be more patient.
Thank you for the reminder. Off to match some blessings now…