Ever heard of a sock war?

After adopting a sibling group of four children (I now had five!), socks became a much larger part of my life than I ever expected.

After realizing my single laundry hamper was not going to cut it, I started sorting into three 30-gallon trash cans. When my dryer started overheating under the pressure of 24 weekly loads, the laundry overflowed to additional baskets, bins and the floor. 

The hunt for clean socks was fierce competition among the kids. Socks were “stolen” from other kids’ dressers and “hidden” for later. To procure help with sock matching, a large basket of clean socks was placed in the living room and the TV only had power if certain children matched socks. Eventually we adopted a central “sock basket” where all socks were stored and hidden socks were considered “contraband.” A child found outside wearing socks with no shoes found themselves washing their socks by hand in the kitchen sink… because do I look like I’m made of socks?

After our pile of single socks began to really pile up, I declared a “sock war” where the kids searched high and low for stray socks. During one sock war, we found 125 single socks that did not have a match. I began to wonder if the socks were secretly reproducing. 

Now that my kids are grown, I still find myself amazed when I do laundry and all the socks match! I find myself thinking back to sock wars and sock baskets and how much things have changed. Yet, when they all come home for Sunday dinner it’s still just as loud, crazy and fun… and occasionally, after they leave, I find a mystery sock left behind and I can’t help but laugh.

If you’re thinking about selling your home, I would love to be a part of your family’s journey. Whether you are ready for something larger, or it’s time to downsize, let’s talk about what home and family means for you.