Socky

One of the good things about our recent trip to Branson was the shopping.

Not that I'm an authority on shopping. I hate shopping. Frankly, I'd rather watch Larry Moore do a naked burlesque show than spend even five minutes in a mall.

But I had a nice score in a Branson outlet mall that almost makes the entire trip worthwhile.

First, a little background: About five years ago, I went through a simplification regimen. This consisted of getting rid of some of the extraneous "stuff" in my life. Focus on the important things, streamline the processes, etc. As part of this exercise, I got rid of all the fancy socks I used to wear to work and replaced them with plain black socks.

These are special (to me) socks, a lycra/cotton blend from Jockey that was comfortable and tended not to fade as much as other socks. At the time, I could only find them at one store, so I stocked up with a couple dozen pairs.

The beauty of the system is that they are all identical and they pretty much go with anything I might wear to work, so I never had to worry about finding a pair of matching socks. They all matched each other, see?

Over the years, a sock would wear out and I could just throw a new one into the rotation. This worked great until the store I shopped at quick carrying them. I searched online and couldn't find them anywhere.

As I started to wear holes into the heels of more socks, I resigned myself to the fact that my great sock experiment was coming to a close. I even went so far as to wear a couple of pairs of non-standard socks that I had received as a Christmas present (yes, I received socks as a Christmas present. Sad isn't it).

Then, while on a stroll around a Branson outlet mall while my Supermodel Wife was buying factory outlet-priced Supermodel clothes, I saw a Jockey outlet store. I felt a slight tinge of hope. I stepped in and saw a display of the very socks I needed -- and at factory outlet prices no less.

So, I restocked on socks. I've got a nice big stack of two dozen socks just waiting to move into the rotation as their older brethren wear out.

Life will continue to be simple for me -- at least in the sock department.

tagged: Branson, Jockey, socks, feet, shopping