JulieLeung.com: a life told in tidepools

Frosty and icy outside this morning. Crystal balls like ornaments hanging from bare branches. Frozen dots on the plastic newspaper sleeve. A thin layer of ice on the street and sidewalk too. Not enough to make me slip but enough to make me cautious as I jogged.

I went around the loop three times this morning in the cold. Each time I passed by a sock lying on the sidewalk in front of a home halfway across the neighborhood from us. The first time I ignored it. The second time I noticed it. The third time I wondered: what is a sock doing there on the sidewalk?

It’s not like our neighbors would be using it to wrap their pipes or even to do any gardening, since this yard in particular is new and does not yet have any plants in it. No snow sculpture in sight to claim the sock as decor. It made me curious.

And the sock looked a lot like one of Ted’s. Yesterday when I was folding clothes, I noticed one of his socks was missing its pair. Usually most of Ted’s match when I do a load of laundry, an occasional one getting left behind at the bottom of the hamper or overlooked somehow. I figured it would show up in the next load or so.

Yet this morning, after I jogged past the sock for the third time, I slowed down and thought about it. Then I turned around and went to pick it up. I was skeptical but figured it was worth a look. And it looked like the same size and shape as Ted’s sock, same color and inside lining. I held the frozen sock in my hand, jogged the rest of the way around the loop and came home.

Looks like it is indeed Ted’s sock that I found halfway around the block. Even matches the missing one in color. I guess what might have happened is that it fell from my clothes yesterday morning when I went for a quick run. I had taken my running outfit out of the dryer, thick dark fleece the same color as Ted’s sock, and then gone around the block once quickly. I imagine the sock clinging to the inside of my sweatshirt and then falling out after a bit of jostling and jogging.

It’s not every morning I locate laundry on the sidewalk while jogging! The sock is defrosting on the kitchen sink. It started to thaw a bit in my hand on the way home. Don’t worry Ted, I’ll let it thaw completely – and even wash it all over again – before I put it back in the drawer with its lonely mate.;)