Miracle of Miracles: Leah Puts on Panty Hose

For the 24 years I've been Leah's mom, we've butted heads over few issues like we have over how she dressed.

When she was little, I purchased all manner of Oshkosh clothes. (See photo on this blog. Isn't she cute?) She even won grand prize in a Dillard's Oshkosh contest when she was about two years old. But as she got older, she wanted to express her individuality -- which I was mostly fine with. I let her wear the gray Skechers as if they were dress shoes. The 3-inch heels, which made my feet hurt looking at them on her feet. And I even went with her when she got her first tattoo -- a very tasteful dove on her foot.

I did draw the line at wearing shorts in the winter. And I tried to draw the line on the slipper/moccasins she wore as if they were every-day shoes. Yet, one article of clothing I could never get Leah to agree to, even as she got older, was panty hose.

Refused to wear 'em, despite my occasional requests. I figured it was a generational thing. To me, that's how my mom raised us. My mom's a lady and ladies wore panty hose. I'm not hung up on hose but sometimes the occasion calls for them. For her part, Leah wouldn't have been caught dead in a pair of hose. It was like squeezing her legs into sausage casings.

Yet, in a sign of her growing maturity and a new grown-up job, she wore panty hose to church on Sunday.

Hose-anna! She looked like a young lady. I guess maturing can take one leg at a time.