My Underoos Shame

Alright...it's time I came out of the toon closet...

Like the commerical said, Underoos WERE fun to wear and they WERE something super new in underwear. I had not only the Supergirl Underoos, but the Wonder Woman ones. Now, the Supergirl ones just had the red panties with a pic of Supergirl on the shirt, but the Wonder Woman Underoos were the full deal...a red tank top shirt with the golden bird on it and the blue panties with the big white stars. Seriously, the only thing stopping me from looking like was Wonder Woman was not having the crown, the lasso and the armbands (oh, and being a 4 foot something 11 year old African American girl instead of being Lynda Carter, but other than that, I was a dead ringer!).

Did I mention I was 11 years old?

Anyway, my mother commanded me to NOT wear these under my clothes at school and I was really bent out of shape that she would say this. She was forever telling me I couldn't do things without reasons why beyond "Because I said so" and I was CERTAIN this was just one more in the series, since wearing Underoos was what all 11 year old girls did (forgetting entirely that all girls my age were begging to wear makeup and training bras, not racing boys on their bikes through the neighborhood).

After a long battle which ended in my tears and her not wavering, my dad came in and tried to convince me that if I wore these to school (especially since I had to change for gym that day), the girls at my school would definitely laugh at me. I still wouldn't buy it, so my dad sighed and said "Okay, go ahead, hon. But don't say I didn't warn you."

Remember the tampon scene in Carrie?

Okay, picture that (girls coming from all over the locker room to point and laugh), but without the tampons and blood and stuff and THAT was the scene when I busted out my Underoos in the locker room that day.

Years (of therapy) later, I've come to realize that parents sometimes DO know what's best, but 11 year old girls DON'T.

After all, what but sheer jealous rage could have driven those girls to be so mean? ;-)