Mismatched Socks
Our eight-year-old granddaughter is becoming a “fashionista”. I’m not certain how one does that at eight, but it does indeed seem to be possible. Jules was visiting with us one day when the last of the lovely winter snow was transmogrifying itself into the gray spring slush. She came in from the outside, cold and wet, and I sent her, as good Grammas do, to change into dry clothes. She returned and asked if I had any socks for her. Now, we keep a drawer in the closet organizer just for grandkids, and I was pretty sure I could find socks. As I started toward the bedroom Jules called out: “They don’t have to match, Gramma. It’s OK for them to be different.”
Now, I guess I am sometimes an indulgent Gramma. However, I’m also my mother’s daughter, and I would never have gotten out of my mother’s house in mismatched socks. That seems to be the fashion, however, among young girls. I would never even attempt to discern what makes for fashion, but certainly can accept that some things will be “in”, while other things will most definitely be “out”. Mismatched socks are “in”, and my granddaughter wanted to be “in” as well. So after a brief struggle with my mother’s shade, I found two mismatched socks and handed them over….without comment!
I found it ironic that in the effort to fit into her social circle’s strict convention she must accept that it’s alright for some things to be different. What a dichotomy!
How I hope that her words “It’s OK for them to be different” come to mean more than a pair of socks to her. I pray that she is able to accept differences without qualification; to understand that being different does not need to mean better than or worse than or in opposition to. It simply can mean different. I pray she comes to celebrate differences as the multitude of ways we express God’s creative love in our beings and in our lives. …and in some ways, my mother herself could agree with that!
Our eight-year-old granddaughter is becoming a “fashionista”. I’m not certain how one does that at eight, but it does indeed seem to be possible. Jules was visiting with us one day when the last of the lovely winter snow was transmogrifying itself into the gray spring slush. She came in from the outside, cold and wet, and I sent her, as good Grammas do, to change into dry clothes. She returned and asked if I had any socks for her. Now, we keep a drawer in the closet organizer just for grandkids, and I was pretty sure I could find socks. As I started toward the bedroom Jules called out: “They don’t have to match, Gramma. It’s OK for them to be different.”
Now, I guess I am sometimes an indulgent Gramma. However, I’m also my mother’s daughter, and I would never have gotten out of my mother’s house in mismatched socks. That seems to be the fashion, however, among young girls. I would never even attempt to discern what makes for fashion, but certainly can accept that some things will be “in”, while other things will most definitely be “out”. Mismatched socks are “in”, and my granddaughter wanted to be “in” as well. So after a brief struggle with my mother’s shade, I found two mismatched socks and handed them over….without comment!
I found it ironic that in the effort to fit into her social circle’s strict convention she must accept that it’s alright for some things to be different. What a dichotomy!
How I hope that her words “It’s OK for them to be different” come to mean more than a pair of socks to her. I pray that she is able to accept differences without qualification; to understand that being different does not need to mean better than or worse than or in opposition to. It simply can mean different. I pray she comes to celebrate differences as the multitude of ways we express God’s creative love in our beings and in our lives. …and in some ways, my mother herself could agree with that!
RSS Feed