Underwear Friends

Friends Who Hold You Together When Life Falls Apart

By Peggy Cunningham

Underwear. We all wear it and need it, I’m guessing. You can find it in many varieties: large, small, colored or white, old, new, fancy and simple. Underwear is the closest thing to us; just like my underwear friends. Underwear friends knit us together when the wedgies of life cause us to come apart at the seams.

Poops is my chief underwear friend. That’s right – you heard me right. That’s her real nickname! Who could make that up? Poops began her underwear ministry 30 years ago when I first left for Bolivia, and has bought me underwear ever since. She is an experienced and proficient shopper and knows how to buy underwear that is pretty, comfy, and never gives you a wedgie. Poops is like that too, always pretty, comfy to be around, and never gets her undies in a bundle - a faithful friend.

Poops has bought me everything from Cuddl Duds so I’m warm, to spandex to gird me up. When I shared with her that a friend had deeply hurt me, she had words of wisdom for me. “We are all imperfect. When a friend gives you a wedgie forgive them, but first pluck out your own wedgie before attempting to pluck out your sister’s.” Yikes, how many wedgies have I allowed to creep up on my friends?

Are you blessed to have them too, friends like Louise? She sewed my underwear and gave me a needling when I needed it. A friend who spoke the truth in love, even though it pinched a bit, but snapped me into reality when I was down. There’s Cookie, who lets me sit on her couch and vent. And Lois, who washed and line dried my laundry - underwear included - when I just didn’t have the time. Occasionally, on our furloughs, we are so busy I carry our dirty laundry with me. I have friends who lift the burdens, like a girdle. Their washers cleanse away the dirt while we visit and our time together washes away the stress.