Always wear clean socks

Sherri T.

My mother was always admonishing me to wear clean socks.

She made it very clear that I was never supposed to put on the same pair twice unless they had been washed in between. Even if I had worn them for only a short time.

My mom would snatch them from my feet and toss them directly into the washing machine. Those feet did not pass go. They never escaped the foot police.

To this day, I still wonder why my mom was so obsessed with clean socks. Or maybe it was with clean feet. Either way, my mother had a foot fetish.

It was only recently that I started to see the pattern on the socks. I was asking my sister to share some of the wise words of our mother. She answered without hesitation: “Mom always told me to wear clean underwear.”

Seriously?! How come my sister got the underwear advice and I got only the socks? I always knew she was the favorite.

In any case, my mother was apparently not alone in her concern with the state of our undergarments. I have learned through many conversations that this is quite a common piece of advice passed along through the generations.

Why were so many mothers all telling us the same thing? I asked a friend what she thought her mother was trying to say.

Turns out, there is message to this madness. Her mother was always worried that if my friend ever had an accident and had to be taken to the hospital, at least her underwear would be clean.

Now this gives new meaning to neurotic. But then again, we are talking mothers – whose world view is tinted (and tainted) by their mom lens. Every outing is an opportunity for a mishap. Every step is a potential misstep.

Wear clean underwear (or socks) are actually code words for “be safe.”

The bizarre tale of the undergarments has made me realize something very important. I come honestly by my worries about the safety of my family.

As I was growing up, the worry chip was planted deeply in my soul. Or at least in my sole.