There is one aspect of my life I have been hesitant to mention here: the man I am marrying next spring has a toddler.  I will refer to him as ‘E.’  I typically won’t talk about him because for various reasons I’m not sure if it’s appropriate.  However, I’m going to declare a moratorium on that policy for this post, because… well… you will see!

You’ve got to love kids.  Especially toddlers.  They are great for loads of reasons.  Like getting grown-ups to remember to be excited about candy and the ice cream man.  And forcing you to be calm even when they have thrown up all over your brand-new couch – followed by peeing all over it (yes that has happened).  And, the #1 reason kids are great… they make sure everyone in the room knows when you’ve made a fashion faux pas.

‘E’ did the latter to me this past Friday afternoon.  It was Alex’s birthday this month, so we brought ‘E’ to his work “birthdays in October” cake party.  I was feeling a bit lazy that morning, so when I put on my dark blue jeans and brown clogs, I didn’t care that I also put on off-white dress socks.  Yes, I know you’re not supposed to wear white socks with dark pants and dark shoes.  I just had no real care factor for it that morning – and I also presumed (wrongly) that no one was looking.

So we are sitting at the cake party.  ‘E’ decided there were simply too many people there for his taste, and spent the whole party sitting under the table where the cake was being cut.  I sat in a chair near him to allow Alex to socialize without having to worry about ‘E.’  Did I mention that ‘E’ has a tiny bit of OCD going on?  No?  Well, he does.  It’s really entertaining to watch.  Everything has to be in a straight line, all the time.  Lights have to be turned on and off.  Doors have to be CLOSED.  (Have I also mentioned that I adore this kid??!!)  And, apparently, white socks are NOT supposed to be seen.

I had my legs crossed and to one side of the table.  This made my jeans-leg come up a tiny bit – just enough to expose my white sock.  ‘E’ noticed the offending sock and tried to pull my jeans over it, so all you’d see was the brown shoe.  But of course, as soon as he let go of my pants, they popped back up and the sock was once again exposed.  After this happened three or four times, ‘E’ started to get mad at my jeans and making a fuss, which of course drew attention to my foot.  That my sock was the source of ‘E’s consternation was cause for great amusement amongst the part-goers, to say the least.

So now all Alex’s co-workers know that sometimes I wear white socks.  I guess it could be worse.  ‘E’ could have outed my age, or my bra size. You’ve got to love kids.

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