White Socks

Responsibility and white socks. Who would’ve guessed the correlation white socks would have with that most grown up of words? It was, however, that day when the white socks would come to mean something more than a suit or your best pair of slacks.

Dad never wore anything but dark socks. When he got dressed in the morning, regardless of the day’s activities, before he put on his shoes, he pulled on a pair of socks. The socks were always dark socks. These were the proper socks. Understated and reliable, the dark socks seemed to go with dad’s personality very well. They would do.

Today. Today was the day the young boy would be baptized and be confirmed a member of the church. It was a couple weeks since his eighth birthday so he was old enough to live with the responsibility and honor of being a member of the church. No, he didn’t know everything but not even the oldest member of the congregation had an complete grasp of the gospel. Everyone was still learning.

Responsibility and white socks. The gateway to embracing that responsibility is baptism and baptism required white clothing. Although most people went bare foot, Dad had a pair of white socks that he would wear to keep his feet comfortable. This was the first time the boy had ever seen Dad wear anything but dark socks on his feet. It seemed to be engrained in who dad was, the dark socks. The more worn socks would become work socks and he would never wear those on the Sabbath. The new socks were for Sunday best dress but the older ones would do for the other days.

White socks and responsibility. Juxtaposed in an unusual way, white socks weren’t about responsibility in most cases. White socks were about fun, sports and recreation. You know, the things people did when they were trying to avoid responsibility. White socks were almost like saying, “I’m not going to do that. I’d rather be shooting some hoops!”

White socks. Only a few things stand out as unusual that day. While some things were very special, others were just unusual. The white socks were very unusual.