Brown socks and a dark suit

So, this morning I was putting on my shoes, and I was thinking about a time on my mission. I was with one of my companions, and in the presence of the Assistant he was talking about the proper color of socks to wear with the proper color of shoes and suit. He had many different colors of socks, and chose them very, very carefully. I thought to myself, “that is so stupid.” The assistant said in a chipper, assistant kind of way, “That is so cool. You are so lucky to know all of that.” My companion then went on to talk about how he worked at some trendy clothes store (The Gap or something) and so knew all about clothes.

Well, I felt pretty bad for feeling the way I felt. In my emulation of the assistant, I wished I could feel proud of my companion for knowing what he did about “fashion”. I wondered if I was jealous, and with my missionary zeal, decided to be prouder of people and the things they knew.

Well, I thought about that this morning as I put on brown socks, brown shoes, and a dark, dark suit, and how I was not doing things as I should.

Then, during church, as I crossed my legs, my blessed wife leaned over and whispered, “why are you wearing brown socks and a dark suit?”

And, my thoughts of the morning came back to me. And, at the same time, I knew exactly why I was wearing brown socks and a dark suit, and why I had thought the information my companion knew was stupid. In order, because those are the first socks that came out of the drawer, and because it is.

I get dressed to keep myself warm and to keep myself modest. That is it. I utterly HATE fashion, matching, looking trendy, or anything like it. I realized this in a deep and satisfying way. I felt like I came to know myself a little bit better today. I feel liberated, like I could go put on my rainbow suspenders, and just be happy knowing my pants won't fall off.