Swim Suit Day

I mentioned the possibility of potentially maybe sometime dragging my bathing suit out of the drawer it has been stuffed into since its last wearing in 2008. I wore it for one hour that year. As you can tell, swimming is not and never has been a favorite pastime. I did use it once as a relaxation technique when I lived in a building with a beautiful, very under-used, quiet, warm, salt water pool with a fountain in the middle and low lighting at night. I ventured down there most nights about 9 PM. In this Plus 40 building, most residents were Plus 70 and in bed by 9 PM so I had the pool area all to myself. I used a long forgotten back stroke and relaxed and glided through the water at my own steam. I was impressed with the feeling of calm and also with the stiff arm muscles the next day. But I was never won over to idea of getting wet in order to exercise. My brief foray into waterworld ended the year we sold our lovely apartment and my swimsuit never surfaced (or sank!) again until the aforementioned 2008 appearance at a hot tub in Arizona. The lovely blue suit is therefore in great shape - no fading, no thin material - just tummy-tucker, shape hugging fabric ready for the next swim.

After my last blog about IT, I took about a week or so to finally dig through the multiple t-shirts from various charity walks, my Car-2-Go white one with the pretty blue trim and there it was - the blue swim suit. I gingerly crushed the bra insert to make sure it had not crumbled into little flecks of fleshy foam and - nope - good as new! I hung the suit on my mirror in the big walk-in closet/dressing room I inhabit every morning. Now to pick the try-on day. Well, today was the day. I was getting dressed this AM, I was dry (no shower today!) and, well, naked! What better time was there? I grabbed the thing and stepped into it, shimmied my way to being fully encased and grinned. It was just a little too big - everywhere. I mean, not falling off big but not hugging the body fit either. I checked out my image in the mirror and was happy to say that a slimmer me looked back - slimmer even than 2006! My smile followed me downstairs to breakfast, into the car and all through my commute - there it was, everytime I checked in the rear view mirror. Why, it even followed me into the staff washroom and an hour later, there it was, grinning at me in my reflection in the train window on my way downtown for an appointment. We are not talking bikini body time or even, svelte one piece heaven - but, baby, we are talking 3 inches off the waist joy!

I took this suit for a spin in Arizona this winter and it was OK.  The pictures kind of snuck on to my facebook page just because I need to keep myself honest but, one thing I have learned, is that losing weight in your 60's is no where near the same as in your 20's!  For one thing, your skin is too big for your body! So, I will lead only with my picture of my suit!  BUT, I promise, come April 2013, I will post one from Bali!  It is afterall, a major event in my life to visit the site of the "Eat, Pray, Love" book! 

So, the only thing standing between me and my suit and the beaches of Phuket and Bali will be if I lose so much more weight before April the darn thing falls off me. Then I guess I will be shopping last minute because, come Spring 2013, I am going to be a beach bunny if only for a few days. Hippity Hop - let's shop!