A lost sock obituary Compression, Right

Compression, Right was prescribed in 2019, after an operation on H.'s right leg that H. would rather not describe on a website. It came with a fitting appointment, a tape measure, and instructions for putting it on that filled both sides of a sheet.

It was not decorative and never pretended to be. It was a firm, beige, graduated compression sock with a job to do. It did that job every day for six years, including two vacations and one wedding, where it was hidden under formal wear with some effort.

Putting it on took practice. Taking it off took a doorframe. H. describes the relationship as one of mutual respect rather than affection, and says the same is true of most important things.

For the first year it was washed by hand, as the instructions asked. After that it went in the machine on the gentle cycle, because H. had stopped reading the instructions. H. suspects this is where it all went wrong and would like other readers to learn from it.

In March 2025 it went into the wash, and that was the last anyone saw of it. It was replaced at cost, which H. would like noted was not small. The replacement fits exactly as well, and H. has not forgiven it for that.

The original has not been found.