Youth Large

I went looking for some swimsuits today.   We’re going to be on a boat and in swimwear for a lot of the day for ten days and I wanted to get a suit or two that met different criteria than the normal suits I might wear to the pool or the beach for a few hours.

Like most ladies, I like a suit to fit me well and be flattering, but there are features of most women’s suits that I don’t find preferable.   I was hoping to find some that circumvented those options today.   The first thing I was hoping for was to find options that didn’t have a large metal hook or clasp in the back or, alternately a lot of string that needed to be tied in a bow.   Both of those options don’t pose a problem when you’re standing or swimming, but sit down with any back support at all and the bow or fastener presses right into the center of your back.

This is something I’ve been trying to get around for a number of years with minimal success.   I was hoping the store Athleta, which focuses on athletic wear and has some swimsuits during the summer months, might have a few options I could pull over my head.

The other thing I was hoping to avoid were those pesky pop in and out foam inserts that I’ve written about before here.   Getting them in and out is an exercise in frustration, but leaving them in and washing the suit top invariably causes them to fold into fourths inside the pocket and is even more challenging to correct than it would have been to take out and reinsert in the first place.

The third thing I was looking for was shorts-based suit bottoms.   They are far more comfortable to me because when you’re sitting the seam of the suit doesn’t press into your skin.  There is also no chance for it riding up and having to be pulled down again and again.

I got to Athleta and they had multiple options meeting the criteria I was looking for.   I wasn’t sure what size to get because different brands all seem to fit differently so I brought three different sizes back to the fitting room.

About two minutes later I remembered something Athleta does.   Mind you, this is my theory only, but it would appear they are making their sizes fit extra small.   Meaning if you were normally a six, you’d find a two fits you just fine in their store.   Does this help with body image of some buyers?   I’m not sure, but it wasn’t working for me because I’m already petit.   I couldn’t get anything to fit on account of it was all too large.   This is not a problem I’ve ever been faced with before.

There was one other option I could try, the salesperson told me.   They had youth clothes in one section of the store that would probably fit me in a large size.   Oh, and bonus, she said, they were cheaper than the adult versions.

So I got several very colorful options and she was right, they fit.   I’m forty-nine-years-old and have not worn youth sizes since I was an actual youth.   I don’t know about this whole sizing thing.   But they fit and were less expensive and I liked the colors and patterns.   And more importantly, they met all my bathing suit criteria.   Sold.  Now I’m ready for our sailing trip

The Big Boy Update:  My son has a scrape on the center of his forehead between his eyes.   He jumped up on the bed tonight and said, “I’m Vision!”  He does look a little bit like Vision from The Avengers, minus the red skin and lack of hair.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter came in with very, very dirty feet tonight from pushing everyone on the big four person swing in the back yard.   She went into the bathroom and put her feet in the tub to rinse them off.   She couldn’t see that they were dirty, but she cleaned them off when I asked her to without complaining.