How to Rock it With Your Granny Panties

I recently saw a meme on Facebook about Granny panties.  I have no idea who posted it, or even where it originated from.  To whomever designed it, I offer kudos.

Kudos because they have a point.  If you stop and think about it, there is a certain correlation to the underwear we put on now, to those shiny oversized drawers our grandmas used to wear.  (And in some cases, still do.)

Today’s Underwear

As time passed, we went from shiny undies that reached from the top of our legs to the top of our waist, to hip hugger, bikini and thong. 

If you think about it, around the time the waistbands of our underwear began to shorten, so did our knowledge of home skills. 

Grandma still wore her granny panties as she raised children, planted a garden, fed the chickens, cooked three meals a day, cleaned the home, and did laundry.  And did it with a song in her heart and a smile on her face.

Our first pair of underwear that fit below the waist felt scandalous, but also felt deliciously secretive.  Instead of doing chores at home, we were going to school, working, shopping, or having ice cream sodas with friends, while we giggled over boys.

Grandma, on the other hand, was looking out the window as she washed dishes by hand, tossed the throw rugs over the lines to beat the dust out, hoed her garden and darned socks, all while wearing her granny panties.

In the mid 60’s, the waistline of the undies dropped significantly, and were called ‘bikini’.  Instead of cooking dinner, we were out protesting the war, growing our hair long, and flashing the peace symbol anywhere and everywhere. 

Back on the home front, Grandma was canning the harvest, making hog’s head cheese from the pig Grandpa just processed, wrapping meat, putting in vegetables for her fall garden, and letting a pie cool on the window sill.

Strings? Really?

Then our undies became not much more than strings.  We are holding down one full time job and a part time one, just to pay for the shoes in our closet. 

There is a phone in one hand, and our preferred communication style consists of a cartoon drawing of a yellow face that comes with multiple facial expressions.  Our thumbs on a tiny keyboard move at lightning speed, while the bonds of relationships grind to a painful halt.

In a small house on a few acres, sits grandma.  She is on the porch, in a rocker, shelling fresh peas.  Beside her and across from her, are a couple of friends who have stopped by for a visit and to help.  They are laughing – giggling like school girls at the antics they got up to when they were young women.

Recipes are discussed, the state of the world today is met with head shakes, and the joys of grandchildren echo through the air like music. And all the while, the bonds of friendship are getting deeper, and growing stronger with each moment that passes and each word spoken.

Granny Panties in Today’s World

We have all seen a sign or heard the phrase, “Pull your big girl panties up”.  There are other signs that take on some form of this message, but it all means about the same thing.  It is time to grow up and quit whining.

I imagine, if you gave this phrase even a passing thought, the image was of one of granny panties.  And if you think about it even more, that is the image you probably should have.

I am not saying Grandma didn’t complain.  But she was wise enough to know that all the whining in the world wasn’t going to get the garden tended, the house cleaned or dinner on the table. 

Grandma had a full life, even if it could sometimes be tough.  When she did have some down time, she had a deeper appreciation for it, and used it to do the things she loved – like making handmade gifts.  And as she made those gifts, she prayed for the one who would receive them.

Instead of whining, Grandma was probably doing all of her chores with a thankful heart.  She loved her home, counted her blessings, and enjoyed knowing she was rich in blessings, if not monetary and material things.

A Christmas Gift of Yore

Growing up, my aunts, Dot and Emily used to wrap a few of our gifts in decorative boxes.  My sister Amie’s was a cardboard purse, mine was a box made to look like a glowing candle.

We may have asked Santa for a few fun things, but what we really looked forward to were those boxes.  There was no surprise as to what was in them, but waiting to unwrap them was almost worse than waiting for Santa on Christmas morning.

What was in those boxes?  Three pairs of brand new Granny panties!  Yes, we had long since graduated to hip huggers or bikini panties, but for some reason, getting these were a sign of comfort.

Did we wear them? Absolutely.  Physically, they were comfortable, and didn’t ride up our…..

But there was some odd emotional comfort they gave us.  No, they weren’t stylish.  But neither did we go flashing our undies at everyone we came across.

Looking back, I can’t help but wonder if the emotional link didn’t trace back across the decades to a simpler, more even paced time.

Rock It in Your Granny Panties

With the world seeming to have flipped on its axis, maybe it really is time to pull up our granny panties.  Maybe we need to step back in time and take a slower approach to life.  Learn a few new (to us) skills.  Be less reliant on technology, and more reliant on our own abilities.

Wondering what a few of those skills are that brought contentment to Granny and her panties?  Try your hand at a few of these:

• Handmade Gifts
• Creating Meals from Scratch
• Growing a Garden
• Canning and Preserving
• Taking a Coffee Break with Friends
• Caring for your Elderly Neighbors
• Writing a Letter
• Strengthening a Circle of Friends
• Learning the Basics of a Simple Life
• Calling Cards – How To Revive a Vintage Tradition
• Baking Bread as a Relationship
• A Handmade Home
• Shaker Gardens

Now Pull Up your Granny Panties

Just in case, if you don’t own any granny panties, but want to take pulling them up to the next – literal – level, just order you some here. I promise you, they are comfortable, and can add a whole new layer to becoming the Powerhouse Woman you know you can be!

• Author Details

The Farm Wife

The Farm Wife

https://www.thefarmwife.com

juliemurphree@hotmail.com

Julie Murphree is a blogger, newspaper columnist, and speaker on all things ‘Living a Simple Life on the Farm’. She is the author of \\\'The Farm Wife – Living a Simple Life on the Farm. She and her husband have 60 acres in NW Louisiana where they actively work on living as sustainable as possible.