Saturday, July 2, 2011

Bathing Suit Season

Tom and his siblings and cousins have a reunion every July. The past few years they've held it at a state park where there is swimming.

All you parents out there just KNOW there is no way you can take two kids to something like this and expect them not to swim.

And because this is Tom's family, I'm the one who leave the gathering and heads down to the lake with the girls.

For the past couple of years, I've packed a swim suit and a very large T-shirt. And I've held Olivia in the water while watching Alyssa swim. I never took off that T-shirt.

This summer my mom bought one of those awesome inflatable pools that get to about 40 inches high and are about fifteen feet wide.

It's wonderful. I am often found after work frolicking with the girls in the pool.

And get this...I'm in there in just a swim suit. No T-shirt.

Today was a big day for us. It was our first visit to the lake (not because of the family reunion, that's not until next week.) We not only painted both girls' closets, Alyssa's a vibrant blue and Olivia's candy apple red. The paint color of O's really is 'candy apple red.'

I'll try to get pictures of the beautiful closets today.

Tom, in a fit of brilliance, didn't complain about the colors even once. His only comment was, "Well, if one closet is blue and the other is red, we can paint the room white and call it patriotic."

Okay...whatever. At least he didn't rain on their joy at picking beautiful, bright colors for their closet make-overs. I'll give him thatl.

But after painting Alyssa's closet and sweating the entire time, I stepped outside to clean the rollers and brush and realized how hot it was out there. No wonder a closet UPSTAIRS in our unairconditioned house had been sweltering.

I declared, "This would be a great day to be at the lake."

Alyssa latched on to that and I knew there would be no getting out of it.

So I showered the sheen of sweat off my body, put on my swim suit, put a pair of capris and a shirt over it. We then packed up towels, pails and shovels, sprayed on sun screen and off we went.

And when we got there? I went swimming without a T-shirt. I swam in a swim suit and that's it.

It was liberating. I've realized that no one is watching me. No one cares about that chubby mom swimming with her kids. No one is more worried about my flabby stomach than I am. In fact, no one worries about it at all. Everyone there has their own worries, their own joys.

I realized that I was drawing more attention to myself with my stupid over-sized T-shirt than I ever will with just a swim suit that fits.

So today, I'm thankful for blue and red closets and revelations that it's okay to swim with my children while wearing a bathing suit, on that isn't covered by a T-shirt. Go me. It's going to be a great summer yet.

2 comments:

Page said...

Go you, for sure! That *is* a good feeling. I wised up to that last year and took my kids to the POOL :o while only wearing a swimsuit. This year, I've struggled again. Thanks for the reminder. :)

Oh, and the closets sound great, and Tom's comment cracked me up... I swear our husbands must somehow have cloned personalities! I *so* saw that one coming. :D

Tiffany said...

Good for you! I can't wait to see the pics of the closets. :)