Changes Beneath the Surface

A lifestyle change like divorce can trigger lots of other changes within their life as well. Sometimes it involves a different home to live in, but sometimes it's something much simpler than that. Little things like ordering a different kind of pizza, or a different way of doing a task or any number of differences.  Lots of times it's just anything different.

Different underwear? Why not?

I have worn briefs as my underwear of choice for my entire life. My dad wore them during my childhood, as did my brothers.  They've always been in my family.  Even our dog had a pair of tighties that he like to play tug-of-war with.  For 55+ years I have had my privates supported and cradled lovingly and snugly by my tighty-whities. I didn't have any reason to believe that my choice wasn't typical and normal. After all, most everyone in gym class wore them, so I was in the majority, right? During adolescence that was all I cared about: Being normal. Not being "different" was the perfect place to be.

I remember trying boxers out many years ago, but it didn't work out. Back then I was wearing Levi's as my brand of jeans, and Levi's have very little room in them as it is (which is probably why the ladies like them on men so much). I couldn't deal with them bunching up below the crotch, so I went back to tighty-whities.  It's like Larry David said in this video with Jerry Seinfeld.  (Sorry about the quality--I just wanted this little clip so I recorded it from my computer with the iPad.  You can watch the full video here.)

I grew to like the fact that with tighty-whities, things stayed where you put them. I got used to having something right there, proud and unmoving. I never had to worry about if anything was in the right place when I sat down.  I used to think it was an advantage for appearance reasons.  You know--masculine.  It occurred to me one time that all it told someone that might happen to be looking was that I was still wearing tighty-whities and probably still lived with my mother.

A week or so ago I thought I'd re-embrace the possibility of change.  I was shopping and bought a multi-pack of boxers.  I don't know much about such things, but these appear to be summer grade.  A little thin.  Maybe that's good?  Damned if I know.  I'm only 58 years old--what the hell do I know about boxer shorts?  Maybe I should have some flannel ones for winter?

So, I've been wearing them for a few days now.  My opinion?  Well, there is definitely an adjustment period.  Frankly, I'm not sure what the point is of wearing any underwear at all given the way these feel.  I guess that's a good thing though, right?  Everything feels nice and free of course.  I also don't look totally pathetic wearing only my underwear any more.

Let's see how things go for the next week or so...