Socks

"There is one item of G.I. gear that can be the difference between a live grunt and a dead grunt. Socks. Cushioned sole, O.D. green. Try and keep your feet dry. When we're out humpin', I want you boys to remember to change your socks whenever we stop. The Mekong will eat a grunts feet right off his legs." - Lt. Dan (Forrest Gump)

I used to only wear crew length socks. In middle school, you had to crinkle them just right. Wearing crew length does have it's problems. In high school, I would train in the summer for tennis tournaments by practicing in the New Mexico sun from about 11-2 (or somewhere around midday to increase my stamina and resistence to heat). After that, even when I wasn't wearing socks, it still looked like I was wearing socks. The tan line was so strong that even through my mission for two years wearing pants, I still had a pretty good line. It was like I was wearing hairy tan leggings. Becca says she likes my legs, so I decided I would wear ankle socks for athletic endeavors. Last spring, I gave in and pushed through the white/tan ugliness when I rode my bike and by the end of our high adventure trip in San Angelo, I had a fairly uniform tan and had ridden myself once and for all of my tan line abomination.

For some reason, I don't like changing socks during the day. I will change socks after getting dirty, like after a mountain bike ride or lawn work, but that's always because I shower. If I'm wearing a pair of socks and don't need a shower, they are the socks for the day. I don't know why I have a thing against "wasting" socks.

Sometimes on Sunday, when I'm wearing dark socks, we will decide to go for a walk on a nice day and I'll just keep the same socks on and wear them with my tennis shoes and with shorts. Hey, the Europeans do it! But as Becca says, "we're not in Europe, you look like a dork, and we are going out in public." At least I don't wear socks with sandals, or worse, flip flops.