The Mystery of the Lone Sock

There are certain questions that no human being can answer.  There are certain mysteries that can't be solved through normal thought and logic.  One of those is the mystery of the lone sock.

You see, at my house, my husbandly duties go beyond such tasks as helping to get past the most difficult levels of Angry Birds.  (Although I would never wish to diminish the importance of that duty.)  At my house, I am the official doer of laundry.  (I tried to make it sound official and important.  It's possible I failed.)

The following are important facts to help you understand the mystery.
1. I put on two socks at a time.
2. I wear two socks at a time.
3. I take off two socks at a time.
4. I put two socks in the laundry.
5. Somehow when the laundry is done there is an odd number of socks.

How is this even possible?  It makes zero sense to me.  Nonetheless, I have developed a special strategy when this happens.  I put the odd sock back into the dirty clothes in hopes that the other one will somehow show up again before I do laundry again.  Sometimes this strategy works.  I'll find a random sock on the floor and throw it in the basket where it is reunited with its mate.

Unfortunately, I have been rewashing the lone sock now since July of last year.

This could be the world's cleanest sock.

I fear the mate to this sock may never return.  But the question remains, where could it possibly be? Is there some magical place where socks without mates go to live lives of solitude?  Can they find love with other socks, even if those socks look different?

It probably left for a sock that looked like this.

Wherever the lost sock is, I hope it is happy.  Meanwhile, I'll keep washing the lone sock and hoping this laundry issue resolves itself.