To Read on the Journey

Friday, May 14, 2010

popularity & circumstance

i'll never forget the last time i wore days of the week panties.  it was june, 1987, at my 8th grade graduation.

i was wearing wednesday panties, and it was friday. i hadn't been wearing them since wednesday, they just happened to be clean that friday so i slipped them on.  i was 13, and had no reason to fear that my red and white striped, "wednesday, wednesday, wednesday, wednesday, wednesday..." panties would be seen by anyone other than me.

to be completely honest i wasn't concerned with my panties at all, i was distracted by the excitement of wearing my new graduation outfit from the limited

you see in jr. high as all the other girls showcased their wardrobes filled with name brands such as- guess, esprit, outback red, reebox, and keds,  i was wearing the latest no-name-brand clothing, purchased on lay-away, from zody's or mervyns, paired with my payless shoe source pro-wing tennies.

so you can only imagine how thrilled i was when my mom took me to the limited to purchase my 8th grade graduation outfit.   like molly ringwold in "pretty in pink" or john cusack in "say anything" i too longed to be accepted by the cool girls, and knew this outfit would launch me into popularity.

i arrived at graduation with my aqua-net doused head held up high, as i wore my new peach outback red wrap around skirt, and forenza blouse.

i was certain the cool girls were all eyes on me as we lined up boy-girl-boy-girl, and were each given our white see-thru caps and gowns.

with caps and gowns on, we made our way on to the high school football field, cheered on by family members as pomp & circumstance was played by the 7th grade band members.

we took our seats in the warm june sun, and listened to boring speeches made by board members, followed by witty speeches made by the class clowns, and our 8th grade class president.

the time came for us to file into lines, and to make our ascent to the front to receive our diplomas.

i stood up, took a few steps, thinking my skirt felt a little loose, but i didn't worry, and continued to move with the line.

a classmate, who was still seated a few rows behind the moving line shouted to me "hey, your skirts dragging!" i took a closer look. and AGHHHHH!!! my expensive, trendy, gonna-make-me-cool, outback red, wrap around skirt was in fact dragging!

i attempted to fix it.  i desperately called to my friend, wendy, the girl ahead of me, and she graciously attempted to cover me as i tried to rewrap the skirt of my demise around me.  but it was IMPOSSIBLE,  because 1. the line was still moving. 2. we were standing boy-girl-boy-girl.   3. it was friday and i was wearing my wednesday panties!

so i did what any 8th grade girl with her skirt falling off during graduation would do...
i took the skirt off and threw it to the principal, who gave me a puzzled look, and placed it under his chair.

i set a new trend, and became the girl who received her diploma skirtless, wearing a white see-thru gown, AND of course red and white striped wednesday panties on a friday.

turned out i didn't need the skirt to gain popularity after all!

this post is part of flashback friday, usually hosted by jo, at the blog mylestones
 but currently being hosted by one of my favorite bloggers, 
erin, from together for good.

8 comments:

Home's Where My Heart Is said...

Oh.My.Gosh. I can so relate to all the name brand garbage!!

When I was in 6th grade we had a Halloween costume parade. I went as Cleopatra, which meant I used a white, flat bed sheet and safety pins as a costume. It wasn't pretty. The guy behind me noticed my underpants before I did.

Hope you and your family have a great weekend!!

Erin

Anonymous said...

oh. my. word. bahahaha. We didn't wear caps and gowns at my eighth grade graduation. I had a rockin' dress my grandma made though. LOL.

Lelan @ Good Gravy! said...

Hilarious story! We've all worn our "Wednesdays" on Fridays at one time or another.

Michelle said...

It's funny how we all thought that new outfit would get us popular.

Unknown said...

Seriously !!?? You were so brave, I would have run off crying.

no trendy clothes from this childhood either.


and what you said in my comments breaks my heart.
you are loved. you know that right?

Simply Sara said...

I don't believe that you weren't already a cool girl. not for a second.

you are the coolest.

(and yup, I'm with Deb, I would have run off crying too)

Sandy said...

Darling story, so well told.

Kristen said...

i laughed so hard... this is a great story :o)