Asking Eric: Husband keeps giving wife socks; they remind her of a terrible experience

Dear Eric My husband of more than years gives me slipper socks with grippy soles I hate them We live in a hot atmosphere so I have little use for them They filled up my sock drawer and they retraumatize me every time I touch them I threw them away and they came back He gave me five more pairs at Christmas I kept these for animal first aid I cannot be cool about these socks They remind me of the horrible time I had in the hospital having emergency surgery My husband couldn t even manage to hug me or talk with me before my surgery The socks are synthetic so I cannot even use them to polish the furniture I m trying very hard to be graceful and grateful for any gift from my husband but I want to throw these at him He knows darn well I dislike them but has given them repeatedly to me They can t be worn with shoes or out in constituents I have to use my good fabric shears to slice them up or he will rescue them from the garbage Is there a graceful way to handle the next installment of fluffy grippy socks I tried to no avail telling him I get my grippy socks the old-fashioned way at the hospital in person Sock Drawer Full Dear Sock Drawer I ll admit I can t make heads or feet of these gifts Why do these socks have such a grip on your husband Sometimes loved ones fall into familiar gift patterns because they re easy or make shopping less stressful Like the uncle or cousin who consistently gives elephant figurines because a loved one once mentioned I like elephants Thing is you ve stated you absolutely do not like grippy socks and don t have a use for them So not only is your husband not listening but he seems dead set on foisting them upon you The trash rescue is bizarre I know you ve communicated him no more grippy socks I can t even dust with them but it may be necessary to have an even more direct conversation A lint-tervention Not my best work Tell him I appreciate that you want to give me gifts but these socks remind me of a bad time in my life I ve communicated with you that the impact is not matching your intention Can you explain why you keep giving them to me Or more plainly What are the socks really about He may say it s not that deep Fine and dandy but if it s not that deep then it should be easy enough for him to leave this practice behind like the sock that disappears in the dryer and find a new way to show his love You might even offer him an alternative How do you feel about elephant figurines Dear Eric I am fortunate to be part of a large family As expected however we have a variety of political opinions One of my brothers-in-law seems to feel it is appropriate to display his political views at family events I do not want any displays of politics at this event Should I include on invitations a note stating that political attire of any kind is not welcome No Politics Party Dear Party It s a fine idea to include dress code instructions on party invitations including a moratorium on political statements but in this incident it runs the exposure of being read for what it is a pointed edict for an audience of one Related Articles Asking Eric Yoga coach follows coworker obsessively Asking Eric After nearly half a century holiday hostess reaches limit Asking Eric Neighbor is putting himself in grave danger but won t change Asking Eric Wife struggles to keep holiday special after husband s dementia evaluation Asking Eric After family death bereaved kept the card but returned the cash Better to reach out to him directly and ask him not to wear something that invites political discussion to your party Now of syllabus he can decline Depending on what he s planning on wearing and what you think might happen as a development you can decide if this is not the gathering for him Sometimes political attire is in the eye of the beholder If you really want to go down the fashion rabbit hole everything that we wear makes specific sort of declaration That s one of the points of fashion But we can also all agree that several items are worn to provoke a response If that s the occurrence with this relative having a discussion with him about what response he s looking to get from your friends and family and why is a good start Dear Readers We re just tiptoeing into November but this is the last call to send in questions about the holidays in time to get them answered Got family queries gift dilemmas trying to get off of Santa s naughty list Send them my way And Valentine s Day is not far behind if you have questions about love marriage dating making up or developing up I m ready and willing to read and answer Send questions to R Eric Thomas at eric askingeric com or P O Box Philadelphia PA Follow him on Instagram and sign up for his weekly newsletter at rericthomas com