Corsets

I started reading the Little House on the Prairie books to my children last summer.  We don't read it every night because some nights Hubby reads Magic Tree House books... but we are currently on "Little Town on the Prairie"

It is fun to re-read these as a grown woman, and as a mother.

Here was a excerpt from last night's reading that I enjoyed:

"I'm glad I don't have to wear corsets yet," said Carrie.

"Be glad while you can be," said Laura.  "You'll have to wear them pretty soon."  Her corsets were a sad affliction to her, from the time she put them on in the morning until she took them off at night.  But when girls pinned up their hair and wore skirts down to their shoetops, they must wear corsets.

"You should wear hem all night," Ma said.  Mary did, but Laura could not bear at night the torment of the steels that would not let her draw a deep breath.  Always before she could get to sleep, she had to take off her corsets.

"What your figure will be, goodness knows," Ma warned her.  "When I was married, your Pa could span my waist with his two hands."

"He can't now," Laura answered, a little saucily, "And he seems to like you."

"You must not be saucy, Laura," Ma reproved her, but Ma's cheeks flushed pink and she could not help smiling.

------------------

I'm very grateful to have a wonderful husband who "likes me" these 9 years later when my waist is not the same width as it was when we were married.  Through all the (literal) ins and outs of five children and four pregnancies and the fitness efforts in between, I am incredibly grateful for my Hubby who loves me through it all.

And I am grateful that I do not feel pressure to wear corsets to bed.