Kathleen McCall:
Occasional�� Muse�

2002-10-17 - 7:51 p.m.

Seasons

Winter is officially here. I wore socks today.

You can keep your equinox and your solstice and your daylight savings time. I have Sock Day, and today was it. It is now officially Winter. I live in California; I observe Winter, and The Good Season. That's all. This is not the start of The Good Season.

I don't like shoes, but I wear them. Deference to society - YOU guys - who say I can't eat in restaurants without them. I think they expect them at my job, too, although to be truthful I haven't really asked. "But do I have to wear shoes??" They already think I'm weird enough.

Socks, however, are NOT required. I have tested that.

I have a whole drawerfull of socks. Of course; I have a drawerfull of everything. You want rubber bands? Chopsticks? Hair scunchies? Binder clips? Overnight bags? I have a drawerfull. I have plenty of socks. In fact, I did a major sock purge just a few weeks ago, in a fit of new-leaf-turning. "I'll revolutionize my life! Streamline! Look at all this shit I don't need! I don't need - I don't need - these SOCKS!" Lots of socks got the old heave-ho. The drawerfull is just what I have left. (Yes, they're all left socks.)

It was sad, getting out socks. Ceremonial. Goodbye, summer. Goodbye, bizarre Birkenstock tan lines on my feet. Hello, parka weather.

You know, I'd probably wear the parka and still go barefoot. It would work for me. But I can't wear "winter" shoes and no socks comfortably. Today was my shoes that are kind of across between clogs and tennies, and they really require socks.

I figure as long as it was Sock Day and therefore ruined anyway, it could be Fire Up The Heat Day, too. New furnace filters? Ha. Right. I just checked the pilot light and fired that puppy right up. Younger Daughter sneezed, but she said it wasn't the heater because she didn't want me to turn it off again. She was cold. She likes 75.

On Sock and Furnace Day, we have a moment of respectful silence for the things that didn't get done during The Good Season. I was going to refinish the wooden benches in the backyard, but I didn't. We never went camping. Let us observe the passing of the possible, and then put these things in the Maybe Next Year box.

Some of these things go back in the Maybe Next Year box every year. I never went to Harbin Hot Springs and spent all day in the hot pools naked with my best friend. I never bought my camper van and dragged the girls on a cross-country eventure. Things like this have fold lines that are almost rips, like ancient maps, from being put away so many times. But that doesn't mean their season will never come.

See what happens when you make me cover my feet? I wax philosoxical. Start thinking about goodbyes and hellos and how time passes when we aren't even noticing.

The Winter Equisox. It was today; did you feel it?

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