Love, Laughter and a Pile of Socks

Valerie Cullers 21 Comments

Several years ago, I was in a class where I met Frances. She was on the quiet side but had a wonderful sense of humor. I really appreciated her and we became good friends. One day, she was telling us about Larry. He just would NOT pick up his socks. She had been married to him for years and asked him several times if he would but to no avail. On one particular day, she told us she had an idea. She was going to let his socks pile up and continue to put new socks in his drawer and see how big the pile would get until Larry picked them up.

Each week we would check with her on Larry’s (or the pile’s) progress. Each week it just kept getting bigger and bigger until after a month, Frances gave up, washed the pile and put them in his drawer. We asked, “What did you say to Larry?” Her reply, “Nothing.” Another question from the group, “What did Larry say?” Her reply, “Nothing,” and then she just laughed.

Frances and Larry had a great relationship and shared a lot of laughter between them. Even an outsider knew that Larry had indeed noticed the pile but was going along with it and seeing how long she would continue to buy him new socks. Frances never spoke about it again to Larry and each morning she would pick up his socks from the day before and put them in the dirty clothes basket.

For me, this was a great example of what makes a marriage great. There is a lot of give and take and acceptance in a good marriage. No one is perfect and each spouse must accept the shortcomings of the other. If a person can do it with grace and humor, so much the better.

When I see my own husband’s socks on the floor, I just smile and think of Frances. What a woman she was!

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

Image by Bernswaelz. Courtesy of Pixabay.

21 thoughts on “Love, Laughter and a Pile of Socks”

  3. Hehe! An engaging story but she did it wrong – she shouldn’t have bought more socks! Sparky pulled that stunt when we were first married. I didn’t pick them up and I didn’t wash them and I didn’t buy new socks. When he ran out I simply stated that I washed all the clothes in the laundry basket… He quickly learned to walk the 3 feet to the basket!!! Now when one of the boys visits and leaves clothes on the floor he simply mutters that they need to get married so that they can be better trained!!hehehe!

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