One Foot In The Grave

It has been a long time since I featured an essay from my good friend "One Foot in the Grave." She doesn't write as often as she was for awhile, so when I saw this Thursday Special come through, on of course Thursday, I knew it was something I wanted to share. She always starts our her missives with some words of wisdom:

Change is a special chance for growth and learning.

Each day is a great day for celebrating.

The soul would have no rainbow if the eye had no tears.

A friend is someone you can be quiet with.

Nothing is worth more than this day.

Trust yourself to choose what is right for you.

Today let us talk about a subject which was forbidden when I was young, during WWII.

Due to the needs of the army elastic was not available so women had to wear panties with buttons. Sometimes the button fell off. When it fell, down came your panties. It was known to happen while you were walking down main street, walking into church. Always out in public, never at home. Who ever had that happen was so embarrassed and the rest of the world thought it was a great joke.

Do you have a story on a pop button??

1750’s ladies wore corsets. It was thought to shape the body. Fine ladies in Persia and Egypt had beautiful corsets and often wore them on the outside. During the 13th and 14 th century even gentlemen wore them to improve their figures (Did they have beer bellies back then?). By the 1800‘s Ladies and gentlemen were still wearing corsets. By that time corsets were made with stays made of whalebones which were very uncomfortable.

Women of the 20th century continue to wear corset sometimes called waist cinchers.

When I started High School we wore girdles. I weighed 100 pounds but wore a girdle every day to school. Even when I first taught school I wore the girdle. I think panty hose came into our lives in the late 60’s we could throw away the girdle. What a relief.

If you went to a store to buy a corset, or girdle you whispered to the clerk what you needed and she brought them to the changing room. Most towns had a lady who specialized in fitting corsets and girdles in her home.

Here's hoping your buttons don’t pop.

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I love it that I have friends who still have memories like this. What a treasure it is to hear them reminisce about things that seem so foreign to life today.

Thanks for stopping by. The coffee is always on.

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