The Swimsuit Issue

It's a beautiful day at the beach. The sun was coming through the window at 6:30. I was tempted to get up and write, but obviously not that tempted, because it is now 9:00am. It is still quiet though. I can sit on the balcony and stare at the ocean, drink my coffee, chat with my daughter and write...and congratulate myself for being such a multi-tasker. Life is good.

I have recovered from my somber mood yesterday, not so much because of anything I did, but because my kids refuse to let me be depressed for long. There is something about activity that pushes one from "feeling sorry for myself " mode to "snap out of it" mode. So today, back to life and all it's mysteries.

Do you ever wonder why no matter how well you thought you packed for a trip, you always forget something? Over the course of the last 10 years, my life has included a lot of travel. Whether it has involved work or pleasure, there has generally been an open suit case in my closet for the better part of a decade. Though I have become fairly efficient at packing for my family, I am always looking for better ways to do it. A couple of years ago, I read an interesting article about packing for vacation by some famous fashion editor. She suggested only packing 5 items in black and white. I tried that on the next vacation. It didn't work for me. Now, my husband only allows one carry on bag on any given trip, so I am all about minimalism. But this was too much even for me. After 1 day, I had worn everything twice. After 3 days, Tony asked, "Are you going to wear the same thing everyday?" I tore up that article as soon as I got home.

I made 2 major packing errors on this trip. No shirts for my son and no underwear for Tony. For Matthew, this is no problem. He would wear the same thing every day for a year as long as it is comfortable. To Tony's credit, he didn't even mention this for 24 hours. And even then, he diplomatically asked if I had "put it in a special place." Fortunately, Target is only minutes away, and the whole problem was solved for under $15.

The bigger question is why I forgot their underwear and shirts, but I some how got to the beach with 15 bathing suits. The embarrassing answer is that I love bathing suits. It's very strange, because I am one of those people who have a very stream-lined closet. I discard everything that hasn't been worn for a year and limit trendy purchases, and all of that "Tim Gunn" advice stuff. But when it comes to bathing suits, it is another story all together. I have whole drawers dedicated to swimsuits. I save them for years. If we want to look at it psychologically, perhaps it is because my choices were so limited during my early life (see earlier blogs). However, if we want to be honest, I just like them. Mine fall into several categories:

1) The old standby bikini. This is an old bikini I bought from Target about 5 years ago. (Giving Target a lot of press today). It is brown with turquoise and orange dots on it. It doesn't look remarkable in the drawer, but it is the suit that I can put on with no tan, no make up, work outs skipped for weeks...and still look in the mirror and say "ok". When I put this suit on, my daughter says "cute suit." My son says, "Yo, sexy mama, swimsuit model mama". My husband murmurs a few lines that don't belong in a blog. And I feel good.

2) The one piece swim team suit. This is required for all moms. This is suit that you race your kids with in the pool. This is the suit you build sand castles in. This is the suit you play frisbee in.
Enough said.

3) The "I'm only laying out" suit. This is the suit that gives good tan line. Not much to it, but it's ok, cause you're just lying there.

4) The "new suit in the catalogue that you just have to have" suit. This is the suit you see every year in a catalogue that you cannot get out of your mind. You see it in, like, February in a catalogue. You keep the catalogue on your nightstand and stare at the suit every few days. You try and talk yourself out of it. But a month before spring break, you order it. For me, this year it was the white strapless suit in the Boston Proper catalogue that looked just like the suit that Charlotte wore in the "Sex and the City" movie. Of course, the one in the movie was La Perla and it it cost $550. I will shamefully admit that I considered it for 17 seconds before the reality of life and conscience kicked back in. I ordered the copy, but to my great disappointment, it is on back-order. (Is there a worse word in the English language than "back-ordered"?)

5) That brings us to the final category. These are the suits that you thought looked cute on the rack, but you didn't try them on and now you are stuck with them because there are no refunds on swimsuits. Oops.

So today I am going with old standby. I have already gotten the "cute suit" comment from Gabrielle. Now I am waiting for the "Yo sexy mama" from Matt. It's going to be a good day at the beach.

Until tomorrow, when talk turns to what we bring to read at the beach...