The Root Cause of Comfort: Good Socks and the Smell of Almonds

I'm in love with my running socks. I wear a brand called Thorlos because I care about the fat pads on the bottom of my feet. According to the Thorlos website:

• Fat pads protect our feet but we destroy them by walking and running on hard surfaces
• Protection is the "root cause" of comfort.

I certainly agree with that last sentiment. Oh, and the package says that the socks prevent “runners toe” too. Whatever that is, I am pretty sure I don’t want it.

Actually, I just like them because they are thick and soft and feel good on my feet and I do think that they help cushion the blow of several hundred pounds of me slamming against asphalt over the surface area of my admittedly large feet for several total hours each week.

I also like them because they are the last article of clothing that are manufactured in the United States.  They are simply awesomely good socks.

So today in honor of Twenty Ten, I decided to bust open a new package that I bought along with my new running shoes a few weeks ago.

It is traditional to wear a new garment at the start of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah in the fall. Usually one will wear a new shirt or tie, or in the case of women, a dress, shoes, jewelry (or all three).  But socks seemed significant enough for the secular New Year which is not as steeped in spiritually. Besides, I’m not wearing a tie today or a dress for that matter.

The first thing I did after breaking open the package was to smell them. I like to smell things and let’s face it, these socks will never smell this good again.

“Wow,” I said, “I love this company!”

The socks were scented with my favorite scent, almond. Then Barbara pointed out that they had been in my drawer next to my shaving soap, which smells coincidentally of almond. But still.

So I recited the appropriate blessing in Hebrew, “Blessed are you Lord, our God, master of the universe, who clothes the naked” (just to be clear, I was not naked at this point, just barefoot) and I put them on.

I ran the same course four minutes faster than yesterday while the scent of almonds followed me through the slushy winter streets of Washington Grove. And my fat pads felt great.