One of the Greatest Gifts I’ve Ever Received

She didn’t know it, but two years ago my mother in-law gave me one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received.

The gift wasn’t anything fancy, and technically, it wasn’t even for me. It was a package of socks. And they were for Tenley.

How could a package of socks for my daughter be the greatest gift I’d ever received? Sounds a bit crazy, right? But hear me out.

For my entire adult life up to that point, socks were the cause of a lot of anxiety for me. Well, not so much the sock but the matching of the socks. It drove me absolutely crazy to wear or see others wearing mismatched socks.

But, my crazy didn’t stop there.

I also loathed folding socks on account of all the stray mismatchiness that inevitably met me at the bottom of every basket.

And this is why a package of socks earned its spot as one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received. Because it wasn’t just a package of perfectly paired socks. It was a bunch of socks to which there were no mates.

That’s right – no mates, only a bunch of individual prints and patterns.

I won’t lie, at first I thought my head might explode. But, it soon became so freeing to meet those socks in the basket on laundry day. I no longer had to worry about finding their mates because I knew there were none. And it wasn’t long before I adopted the mismatchy mentality for all the socks.

I no longer worry about all the socks having to match. As long as they’re the same style and feel the same, they don’t have to be the same color for me to fold them together. I still can’t put totally random socks together. I’m not an animal.

But, I have come far enough to not care about my socks (or yours) matching, and I am free from a lot of unnecessary stress, anxiety, and if we’re being totally honest, a little anger.

So, yes – a package of socks my mother in-law gifted my daughter is one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received.