Go Ahead, Fashion Police, Make My Day: Socks, Sandals OK
By.. Mike Grogan

I have been breaking a cardinal rule for some time now and fully accept the fact that I will probably have to pay the consequences of my sin in the afterlife.

I feel no remorse, however, and will continue to wear socks with sandals.

Big, white athletic socks.

I don't know who made that rule. I know I never ran across it in the Bible. But, then, I am no biblical scholar.

I can say with certainty, though, that it is not among the Ten Commandments. Moses did not have "Thou shalt not wear socks with sandals" carved in the tablets when he came down from the mountain.

Which, considering the importance of the rule and how often it is cited as being gospel, seems to have been an oversight on someone's part. Sandals, after all, were a big part of the fashion world back in those days. I know that to be true because every time I've ever seen Moses - looking a lot like Charleton Heston, by the way - he was wearing sandals. All his friends were, too.

And no, none of them had socks on, that I ever noticed.

The important point was they could have if they'd wanted to, since the rule was not written in stone up there by the burning bush.

I tend to believe there is some fashion senate out there that passes such legislative mandates without much regard for who they may affect or how they're going to be enforced.

So, despite the fact I have been told it is a no-no, I don't feel too bad about heading off to the grocery story in a pair of shorts, t-shirt and a freshly laundered pair of socks on under my sandals.

Truth be told, sandals are a fairly recent addition to my closet. I vaguely remember having them as part of my summer ensemble when I was a child.

They are so much in evidence here in Florida, however, that I recently decided to see if I were missing out on a bit of comfort or convenience by not including a pair of sandals among my footwear.

Let me stop here to point out that I have not said I added them to my wardrobe, because I don't have anything that could even remotely be called a "wardrobe" as such. I have clothes I wear. Some more than others. But no wardrobe.

So I gave sandals a try . . . and found out that what they provide is the next best thing to being barefoot. The problem with that is that I hate walking around barefoot.

"Blessings on thee little man, barefoot boy with cheeks of tan," is not exactly my favorite line of poetry.

I have discovered that the same things happen when you wear sandals without socks that happen when you go barefoot.

Your feet get dirty.

You can get burrs between your toes.

Fire ants and mosquitoes can bite your tootsies.

So I wear socks with my sandals because it gives me the best of both worlds - protection for my feet while still enjoying the lightweight comfort of something other than a shoe.

And here's something whoever wrote the rule about socks and sandals obviously never gave any thought to: I have found that as I grow older, the soles of my feet have become kind of lumpy and uneven. I don't know if that is a common occurrence that comes with age, like extra ear hair and the loss of high tones, but it sure helps define the aging process.

So if you see me at the supermarket or gas station in my sandals and white socks, please just ignore that I am breaking the rule of fashion and accept the fact that I'm just another old guy trying to get the most comfort I can out of life and not giving a tinker's darn about what the fashion police might say about it if they were to catch me.