Changing the details

Now that there will soon be a man seeing me every morning and night, I’ve considered what to do with my current stock of underwear. Do men really care about what their women wear?

I have underwear, I swear, that I can date back more than ten years. It’s still mostly wearable. If you examine closely, you would see that the small elastic threads woven into the band are disintegrating. No doubt the years of hot dryers and stretching it over my bum have worn them down. Still, the cotton is in good shape. Gradually, I have thrown out a majority of the underwear from that era of my life as I convinced myself that underwear that needs to be held up by my pants is probably not ideal. The other thing that works well is asking myself, “what do you want people to see if you end up in the hospital?”

How do people decide when it’s time to throw out underwear? Until there’s something clearly wrong with it, it gets worn, washed, and restocked into my drawer, then the cycle repeats itself. With clothes, the criteria are complicated yet clear, it’s either the wrong size (i.e. it’s too small) or it’s gone out of fashion. Underwear is such a daily thing that I don’t really think about it. Unless I need something that doesn’t create panty lines, is low rise, or has athletic qualities, it’s just something to keep my bum covered. I'll pick the color or fabric that fits my mood. My inventory runs the gammut - granny panties, thong, lace, bikini, boy shorts, in cotton, spandex, nylon, and mesh. It used to be all cotton, but the synthetics have creeped in over the years. I still like the idea of natural, breathable fabric, it just doesn't hold up the same way. Maybe it is kind of like clothing in how it evolves.

I’d be curious to know what the average number of panties stocked by American women is. I must say that I probably have a good months worth of underwear, partly from trying to infuse my drawer with newer looking underwear but also because it certainly saves me from doing my laundry more frequently. (After all, small loads waste water so why not wait until the load is full.)

As I try to streamline my closet and drawers for Tim’s impending move, I find it hard to let go of underwear that’s still good but maybe not the most attractive. Going back to my earlier question, “do guys really care what underwear you wear?”

When I asked Tim this question the other day, his honest but appropriately worded answer was, “I notice when you wear panties I like.”

There have been many clearance sales over the past month. I made myself browse through the piles of colorful panties to look for cute patterns and colors that would be eye-catching for Tim. I want cute, I want playful, I want sexy, but I definitely can’t stand uncomfortable. A part of me is having fun because the stuff I picked out is cute. Another part of me wonders how long it will matter – does it, will it always?

I tested the first new pair out last week, a black nylon panty with lace edges and a red and pink cherry pattern. Yeah, he noticed. :)