MY AUNT'S STOCKINGS

My aunt "Tim" always wore dresses and high heels while my mother, her sister, was in "Blue Bell Jeans". I remember that those jeans had a zipper in the side pocket and a button at the waist. Trust me, most mothers did not wear jeans in the 1950's. My mother would be outside, playing with us kids and my aunt would be in the house, playing with her "gee-tar".

This was prior to pantyhose and my aunt had quite an array of stockings and they all had seams up the back of the stockings. Tim weighed less than 90 pounds ("soaking wet" as we were fond of saying) and seams were supposed to make the calf look larger. Some of her stockings had interesting designs, such as flowers, at the back of the stocking, above the heel. One day, as she was walking across the floor, I noticed that she had one stocking with diamonds on it and the other one one with hearts.

I told my mother who said, "Go tell her she can't get a flush that way!" I didn't understand the remark as I thought the "flush" meant embarrassment and I replied, "But she WILL get a flush when I tell her that!" Mother laughed and went inside with me and said, "Tim, do you have any spades or clubs on your stockings?" Tim said that she didn't. Mother told her she might want to change her stockings but Tim said that one of her "diamond stockings" had a run in it and she didn't think anyone would notice that she had mismatched ones. Mother told her that I was the most OBSERVANT child in the world. [Okay, brothers, you and I both know she actually said NOSIEST!]

I remember the first time I wore nylon stockings was when I was 13 years old for my grandmother's funeral. My sister-in-law helped get me into a garter belt and I remember the box, lined with tissue paper, from which she took the stockings. The box stated that they were "15 denier" and I was lectured to be careful wearing them. I couldn't get out of them soon enough.