Last January I was in India for my grandfather’s cremation. Before I left my grandparents’ home to come back to the states, my mom handed me a pair of socks. I needed those socks because we were stopping at Paris on the way. I asked her where she found those socks from. She said that they were my grandfathers. I took the socks not just because it would be chilly in Paris, but as an object of memorabilia. My grandfather always wore those dark grey colored, calve length socks that were fuzzy with strands of grey thread sticking out because he was always cold. Even in India. They gave him comfort. He was always on the move even at the age of 83. I do not remember him sitting down on a couch for more than 20 minutes. While I was sitting in the aisle seat on the plane I stuck my feet out in the middle of the aisle and stared at my socks realizing that my grandfather did walk in these socks and each step on the dusty roads of Bangalore, India meant a lot. The socks give me the determination to give it my all every step of the way.

I finally landed in Atlanta on a Sunday and had to go to school Monday because I had already missed 10 days of school. I had a bunch of physics assignments to turn in, but I did not complete half of them because I fell sick in India. It was Monday and I did not have a single pair of socks in the drawer because I had put all of them to wash. I had to re-use my grandfather’s socks again. I went to the Spanish room in the morning to take a test that I had not studied for. She told me that I could take it during lunch. I went during lunch and she told me to take it the next day. After lunch, I went to physics and turned in half of my assignments. My teacher was surprised that I actually turned in at least one of the assignments. He told me that I did not have to turn them in until Friday. Then it clicked in my head that maybe these socks do give me some sort of luck. My Spanish teacher never postpones anything and my physics teacher usually would expect me to turn assignments in on time. I did not believe myself, so I put my socks to wash. On Tuesday, I was late in the morning to class to take my Spanish test. My Spanish teacher made me feel guilty about not being able to show up, so she told me to come again during lunch. I came during lunch, but I was not as ready as I was in the morning. I forgot most of the vocab words and the characters’ names in the story. Then in every class, I was pretty sure that I did poorly on the assessments given.

The next day, I took the socks out of the wash and forced myself to wear them again. I did not have any homework and did not have to study for anything when I got back home from school. I thought that it was absurd that I was dependent on those socks, but it really showed how dependent I was on my grandfather. He used to buy me those Cadbury chocolates walking 10 blocks away. Used to make chai, Indian tea, the same exact refreshing way every time. Used to take care of me when I had a minor cold. Helped me with my centripetal forces homework making sure I learned the concepts front and back. He did lots for not only me, but for my family. It might be weird, but those socks are special to me. I am in a confused stage of life right now with college and my future, so maybe I should start wearing those socks again. My lucky socks.