FLASH!: 2015 REUNION WITH MY "I AM CALM" SOCKS

This was the year of my 50th high school reunion. A milestone? Maybe. But nothing compared to what I found waiting for me in my Italy sock drawer.

I admit to getting in a total dither whenever a transition looms, and this departure was worse than usual, since we were, for the first time, hoping to rent our house. This required clearing drawers and closets, as well as the usual packing frenzy.

To soothe myself and have the illusion of being prepared to leave, well in advance, I set out my travel uniform:

Magic flying shirt that keeps the plane aloft? Check!

My No-Jet-Lag homeopathic remedy that keeps me copacetic even in the face of my suspicion that, given all that we are bringing, no airplane could ever get off the ground? Check!

Perhaps I should explain. Airplanes, even without my stuff, are very heavy, and it's beyond me how they stay up. I recall in 7th grade General Science class making a diagram of an airplane wing with little arrows going over the top and under the bottom to explain the lifting process. Everyone else nodded, "aha!," but I didn't "buy" it.

Flash forward about 5.5 decades. Still a disbeliever, I rely on my "I am calm" socks, a thoughtful gift from my sister-in-law, in order not to fly off the handle.

While packing to come to my Italian home, I searched everywhere for these special socks, but came up empty. Believe me, it took a lot of courage for me to step onto that plane without them. Maybe not quite as much as last year when I recklessly boarded Alitalia flight 609 WITHOUT my magic flying shirt, which a mad woman had left behind hanging in her closet. (I had been SO relaxed that time that I forgot to put it on before leaving the house. Somehow, I arrived, anyway, for which I gave full credit to the socks.)

So today, a week after I somehow managed to arrive in Umbria, while browsing the underwear drawer for something with enough elastic not to fall down, what should I find smiling back at me but the aforementioned socks!

It was a joyful reunion, and I am going to set them aside right now in anticipation of the return trip. No sense taking any chances!

The above photo shows the right socks to wear when flying to or from Italy.

The second shows what NOT to wear when flying anywhere. I do love this cute chartreuse number, which comes in a set of 3 non-matching socks from the clever LittleMissMatched Socks Company. But trust, me--it just doesn't have the requisite magic tranquilizing power of #1.