2015 - 365 Project. Day 113, April 23

365 Project. Day 113, April 23: Why yes, these ARE panties from the 1980s. Or maybe super early '90s... and yes, there's a story. Two stories, actually. Long ago, I was shopping with my mom, whom we used to call "The Carolyn Bird" (imagine a parrot repeatedly squawking, "Looks good! Buy it! Looks good! Buy it!"). I needed undies, but in this amazing high-waisted, high-cut style (which, in my defense, was quite popular at the time), literally the only color scheme left on the shelf was a 3-pack of zebra stripes. I kept digging and searching until, exasperated, my mom said, "Just buy them! No one but you will ever see them anyway!" Anxious to be done, I hastily paid for them and escaped the store.

Fast forward several months. We're at a Verdugo Hills Chorus show, hurriedly changing in the dressing room between sets. Guess what I am wearing? And who else but my dear mother yells across the room, "Hey Doreen!! Nice zebra panties!!" This drew guffaws of laughter from my singing sisters. My mother was NOT as sweet as you all think...

Fast forward SEVERAL years, after my mom had died. Just because of that fond yet cringe-inducing memory, I had held onto these beauties. And the only time I ever dig one out to wear is on laundry day, when there is NOTHING else left to wear. So, one such laundry day happened to fall on a Harborlites rehearsal night. They were revealing our new costumes, the velvety black dresses with polka dots. Carol Bell tried it on first to show the chorus, but she was too skinny for the one dress that was made! So they had me try it on. Our opening song for our finals package was "Ain't Misbehavin'", which featured some of our more athletic front row people rolling around on the floor and flinging their legs into the air. Gerry Papageorge asked me to get down and do the kicks (even though I wasn't one of the floor people), so that they could see how the dress would move around with the dancers. I suddenly realized, with horror, that I was wearing those darn 80's zebra panties, and that a hundred people would soon see them as I lay there awkwardly flailing around on the floor. I agreed to demonstrate the floor kick, but only after making the entire chorus turn their backs on us! I then felt compelled to explain my odd request to the chorus by repeating this whole tale, assuring them that Mom was probably having another great laugh over my zebra panties.