~ This is NOT a photo of me. I didn't even take this photo. I borrowed it from here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/may/05/genetics.health~The majority of people look forward to Summer. Personally, I'm not that huge of a fan of it and don't intend to be until I have an in-ground swimming pool in my own yard that I can spend the day in as I please. But I digress.
Most people do look forward to Summer. And although most women look forward to Summer it also brings about a stressor that rivals only holiday dinners with extended family. Getting a bathing suit. Not only getting a bathing suit, but then having to wear the damn thing. In public. Suddenly, holiday dinners of 20+ family members only vaguely pretending to like each other seems like a flippin' breeze.
Once, before kids, I could confidently rock a bikini top and cut-off jean shorts. I wasn't brave enough to strut my stuff in the bikini alone, but with the shorts, I was able to strut. Big tits were a blessing, as was a fairly athletic figure.
Then came kids. Well ... it started before the kids. Working in a bakery with piles of cake tops around didn't help. Neither then did my new-found love of dark beer. That REALLY didn't help things. Then came the kids. And I was naive enough to think my stomach would return to it's fairly flat shape after I pushed the baby out. HA!!! HA HA HA HA!!! (Yea, I know, all mothers are rolling in the floor laughing at that one)
So, now I am wise enough to have my one-piece that has a little skirt on it. It is feminine and covers me up enough that I am not too horrified being seen in it. But still ... feeling OK with it in private is one thing, hitting the beach in it is another.
And that is about the time something dawned on me. There is an upside to the current obesity epidemic. EVERYONE is fat!
Years ago, I was up seeing Ziggy Marley play at a college. Someone commented on being self-conscious about the way they danced ("hippie dancing" for lack of a better term), but then they opened their eyes and everyone was dancing just as "badly" as they were, so who cares?
This Summer, I realized about the same thing. Everyone is fat. The only people who are rocking bikinis, or at least who are rocking them and SHOULD be rocking them (there are WAY too many people wearing them who have no business being in them!!!) are roughly 16 year old girls who haven't yet had kids or started really drinking. There is a very, very small percentage of grown women who can honestly rock a bikini, but they are a dying breed.
I am still looking forward to re-joining the gym and working out again. I want to get back in shape because of health reasons, not bathing suit reasons. But, until then, I am feeling a little better about hitting the beach as-is.
Guess there is a silver lining to every situation, even obesity.
Most people do look forward to Summer. And although most women look forward to Summer it also brings about a stressor that rivals only holiday dinners with extended family. Getting a bathing suit. Not only getting a bathing suit, but then having to wear the damn thing. In public. Suddenly, holiday dinners of 20+ family members only vaguely pretending to like each other seems like a flippin' breeze.
Once, before kids, I could confidently rock a bikini top and cut-off jean shorts. I wasn't brave enough to strut my stuff in the bikini alone, but with the shorts, I was able to strut. Big tits were a blessing, as was a fairly athletic figure.
Then came kids. Well ... it started before the kids. Working in a bakery with piles of cake tops around didn't help. Neither then did my new-found love of dark beer. That REALLY didn't help things. Then came the kids. And I was naive enough to think my stomach would return to it's fairly flat shape after I pushed the baby out. HA!!! HA HA HA HA!!! (Yea, I know, all mothers are rolling in the floor laughing at that one)
So, now I am wise enough to have my one-piece that has a little skirt on it. It is feminine and covers me up enough that I am not too horrified being seen in it. But still ... feeling OK with it in private is one thing, hitting the beach in it is another.
And that is about the time something dawned on me. There is an upside to the current obesity epidemic. EVERYONE is fat!
Years ago, I was up seeing Ziggy Marley play at a college. Someone commented on being self-conscious about the way they danced ("hippie dancing" for lack of a better term), but then they opened their eyes and everyone was dancing just as "badly" as they were, so who cares?
This Summer, I realized about the same thing. Everyone is fat. The only people who are rocking bikinis, or at least who are rocking them and SHOULD be rocking them (there are WAY too many people wearing them who have no business being in them!!!) are roughly 16 year old girls who haven't yet had kids or started really drinking. There is a very, very small percentage of grown women who can honestly rock a bikini, but they are a dying breed.
I am still looking forward to re-joining the gym and working out again. I want to get back in shape because of health reasons, not bathing suit reasons. But, until then, I am feeling a little better about hitting the beach as-is.
Guess there is a silver lining to every situation, even obesity.
