the evolution of swimwear

on the days when the thermometer pushes 100 degrees, there really aren't many options when it comes to Fun Family Time. thankfully, we have friends who have a swimming pool. and these friends, bless their hearts, told us we can use their pool any time we want. of course, if we truly used their pool any time we wanted to, we'd be in there day in and day out. so far we've restrained ourselves and visited only once this year.

it was friday and josh was home from work blessedly early. the house would not remain cool no matter how many fans i turned on, so when josh suggested we use our friends' pool, i lickety splitted it up the stairs into our oven-like bedroom to pull out my swimsuit and put it on. when i looked into the mirror for a quick once-over i discovered that the style of this particular bit of swimwear should not be worn on my particular shape of body. last summer, when i purchased said bit of swimwear, i was lugging around plenty more tummy than i am this summer. though this sounds like a good thing, it doesn't bode well when the tummy is smaller, but the bosom is not, and when this particular bit of swimwear has an Incredibly Plunging Neckline. i suppose my larger belly sort of took the attention off of the neckline somewhat last year, but now that there's no belly to distract, the neckline looks....hmmm....lets just say quite inappropriate. josh agreed with my assessment, but assured me that it wouldn't matter to go swimming in it just this once, since our friends probably wouldn't be home anyhow, so nobody would see me.

we had fun in the pool, though it took tristan a good 20 minutes to stop whining about being in the water. indeed, nobody other than my two boys saw me in my inappropriate swimwear, but on the way home i realized that tristan will be starting swimming lessons in about a week and, since its a moms and tots group, i'll need to be in the pool with him, wearing something a little more appropriate than what i had on that day.

i thought it'd be easy. how could i think that? early saturday morning while josh was busy installing new ceiling fans into our bedrooms (hooray!) tristan and i marched into the swimwear department of the nearest kohl's store. all i needed was something under $30 that appropriately covered my bosom and, preferably, wasn't in a loud, ugly print. after trying on about 10 different suits, i discovered that one of my prerequisites was going to have to be chucked out the window if i wanted to bring home a new swimsuit that day. i think that the Incredibly Plunging Neckline must really be in style this year because nearly every tankini has one. the one-pieces that promised to "trim and shape instantly!" delivered their promise, but would cost me nearly 3 times the amount i wanted to spend. everything else was just plain ugly.

dejected, tristan and i got into the car to drive back home, empty handed. as we were nearing our house, however, the little local k-mart caught my eye. i know, i know, what good thing can be found in k-mart? i was willing to take a look. this time, instead of browsing through the misses' department containing all the bosom baring tankinis in cute prints, i went straight to the women's section containing swimwear that boasted so much coverage that they looked suspiciously similar to the little outfits that professional ice-skaters wear. i found something in black and gave tristan a little bowl of snacks in the fitting room to keep him quiet.

*under $30? check.

*appropriately covered bosom? check. (actually, they were so appropriately covered that it looked as if i had lost my bosom all together)

*non-ugly print? check. solid black. timeless, right?

the next day, i showed my purchase to josh. i had warned him ahead of time that my new swimsuit was slightly "granny looking" and could be considered "cheesy". he denied neither of those descriptions when i held it up to show him. actually, i don't think he said one word. he's a smart man. later, when i fished the receipt out of the bag, a word on it caught my attention. rather than swimsuit, the item i purchased is called a swimdress. hmmmmm.

i took a moment to reminisce about the evolution of swimwear that i''ve had the pleasure of wearing. from the little pink one-piece that was my favourite as a child (it had a turquoise ruffle at the top that reminded me of icing) to the first bikini i ever wore when i was 13 (my dad nearly had a heart attack when i pranced around with it on at a beach while camping with my family, in plain view of many males.) i used to buy a new bikini every spring because i wore them so much in summer that they wore right out! some of them, i still have tucked away in the back of a dresser drawer in hopes that one day, after all my babies have been born and i've had time to really get back into shape, that maybe i will wear them again. a girl can always dream, right?