It was a gross morning yesterday, but putting on my still-wet socks to leave work yesterday, I had an idea. I called up Laura.

"Where are you and do you have my socks?"

Turns out, Laura was also leaving work early. She gave me a dry pair of socks at the T stop, I put them on in the train. Crisis averted.

Why did Laura have a day-saving pair of my socks on hand? It's because I once saved her day. One very hung over day a few months ago. She was running in Becca's relay triathlon and I was along for the ride with posters for everyone. (Terrible runner, great poster maker) But thanks to Laura, terrible directions, and her hung over state, we ran late. So late, in fact, that Becca had to register in her place. So late, in fact, that the bikes had already left when we arrived. All along the way, Laura said, "I have a terrible feeling I forgot my socks." "No, I'm sure you remembered. You packed when you were still clear headed last night." "You're right, I'm probably just paranoid." And when we did discover that her socks were not there, we said, "Oh, I'm sure someone else brought an extra pair. Somebody must've thought of it." But no. Nobody did. And no one else could part with theirs. They were all doing something worthwhile with ours, like run or bike. And then there was me... so my socks came off of my feet, onto Laura's, and on Friday, we completed the cycle. That pair of blue polka dotted socks- useful for every occasion.

PS. I just spent 5 minutes walking around my house with Mother, trying to locate her missing bowl of cereal. "Is it in the fridge?" "No, it's too crowded in here." "Where did you answer the phone?" "I was sitting right here." We checked both floors of the house. She even stepped outside. No dice. No bowl. "Are you sure you didn't finish it already?" "That's absurd. I'm not crazy." A few minutes later, "Wait a minute, I remember. I ate the cereal, washed the bowl, and put it away already!" A thousand head shakes could not take my 5 minutes back.