In a recent edition of his wonderful column, USA Today's Craig Wilson said the following: "I've followed my mother's advice: Always have younger friends. They'll look after you later on."I thought of that the other night while I was at work. I'm not the oldest employee at the hotel but at the relatively advanced age of thirty-eight I'm far from the youngest. One of the young whippersnappers (only 23!) was standing next to me that night and remarked on the poor fashion sense of a man who was heading outside for a quick jog. I answered her words with silence as I was perplexed at the phantom faux-pas.
Finally I asked her what the supposed offense was. "Look at his socks," she replied.
"His socks? What's wrong with his socks?"
"They're tube socks," she said. Apparently, it should have been obvious. She might as well have said, "Duh!"
Well, I'm guilty. When I run, I wear my tube socks. I'm wearing some right now. That's what we wore in gym class way back in the 80s and if they were good enough then, they must be good enough now. Right?
I guess not.
There was denial for a bit. Maybe my friend was mistaken or just speaking for a small segment of today's youth. Surely I could quiz a few passersby and find my way of doing things to be validated.
One coworker, then another and still another heard my query and aged me more with each answer. I found no one who would run in anything taller than ankle socks. Some were even sure that I was just joking about my tube socks. "Who wears those anymore?," one friend laughed.
Am I that old-school? At least I don't have little green stripes at the top of them.
Fine. The kids win. I guess the cool people of 2008 wear ankle socks. Now it's decision time for me. Do I change my aging ways and buy a new pack of socks or do I just stubbornly stick with what I know and pull those tube socks as close to my knees as they will stretch?
When it comes to working along with my younger friends, the ones who will "look after" me, I think I'll go for the comedic mileage of sticking with my tall, tall socks when I run.
4 comments:
Ew, tube socks? You're officially off my google reader.
:)
Seriously though, who cares about socks? You're cooler than they are.
i'll see my brother, your uncle,
tomorrow and ask him what he wears
to run in. he's a triathlete so
the kind of socks he runs in are
guaranteed to be super-cool, don't
you agree?!? mom
Funny, I'm stocking up on socks/shorts, etc, for the return of El Kiddo. I've hit the brakes on socks, though, knowing that there will be an agenda, and I have no idea what it is: below the ankle? ankle?
The Boy I'm dating had a variety of sock lengths, based on his role for the day; boots (farming/construction) require one length, tennis shoes another altogether.
I'm in flip-flops til September. Socks are not an issue.
I'm in a fit of giggles here - just convinced my husband that he could not wear the tall ones anymore.
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