Old and forgetful

September 5, 2011
I really am old and forgetful.

I forgot to pack my swimming suit. For Bear Lake of all places!

As we were coming out of Sardine Canyon into Wellsville, I shouted just as sudden as the thought popped in my head, "I FORGOT MY SWIMMING SUIT!" Yes, it was that dramatic to require all caps. Jeff was stunned. I didn't have any good explanation as to how I could have forgotten the one piece of clothing that I could get away with wearing the entire weekend. To make matters worse, I was already in a grouchy mood and this was not helping.

Jeff tried his hardest to be positive about the whole situation. And even though I don't spend nearly the time at the beach like I want to, should, or used to before I had kids, he insisted we go and buy one. Oh boy, my most favorite activity. Ugh. I can't tell you how much I loathe shopping for a new swimming suit. It takes me hours. I hate swimming suits. The worst part about shopping is that my top isn't the same size as my bottom. And most suits are sold as a set, so you have to sacrifice the chance of flashing someone to keep your flabby buns covered or buy a pair of shorts or some sort of cover up to keep folks from gagging at the sight of your huge, white butt being sucked in to a way too small bottom while your boobs stayed covered. It's a traumatic, depressing experience to say the least.

But I was trying to be a good sport and not ruin the weekend for everyone so I went along. We ended up at Poco Loco which sells some pretty pricey swimming suits. I had already told myself I was going to have to suck it up and buy a suit without a cover up or board shorts because I knew my choices might be limited at the end of the summer season. Besides, I hadn't really budgeted $100 for a new suit and shorts. I found the clearance rack where luck would have it that everything was sold separately. Since I'm not a size 2, my choices were pretty limited for what would fit me. I found a matching top and bottom in turquoise - one of my favorite colors - and decided to give it a try. They both fit pretty good and I was actually somewhat comfortable at the thought of not having any cover ups for my big bum. The top had a second layer in it that came down past my hips which was nice. I showed it to Jeff, thinking we'd be able to get out of there in record time. Well, he wasn't such a fan of the color and I got all upset at the thought of looking horrid at the beach, even if it was just in front of my family. So I grabbed about 15 other suits to try on, all of which were double the price of my clearance rack find. But I didn't like how any of them fit so in frustration and knowing Jeff was probably done with this whole shopping thing, I said let's just get this first one. I'll be the frumpy, flabby beach goer. My Dad took pity on my plight and managed to find a cute wrap-around in the trailer for me to cover up with.

Jeff teased me all weekend that he had forgotten to pack his shoes, in the hope that I would give him the go-ahead to buy some new ones. It's not like I forgot on purpose! I'm old for crying out loud! The ironic part about this long story is though, had I not bought a new suit I might not have gone down to the beach at all. The best weather days we had at Bear Lake were spent 4-wheeling and exploring Bloomington Lake. On the last day we were there, I suited up and headed down to the beach right after breakfast. I HAD to wear this new swimming suit or risk lifelong teasing from Jeff, even if it was cold enough that I wore a jacket over it for most of my beaching. I did manage to will the sun out just long enough for Cole to get his sticky, licorice and chocolate covered fingers all over the front of my suit after I had taken my jacket off. Hence, the dark spots on it in the picture.

But with all the fuss and forgetfulness, I can actually say this is the first swimming suit I've ever had that I would actual wear without a cover up of some sort. I'm not saying everyone around me would feel the same way, but I really do like it.