TODAY OUTSIDE THE CLOSET:


Hello Monday, you never fail to challenge.  Fortunately, I’m coming off a relaxing weekend of savoring some down time.  Sometimes my weekends are as busy as my weeks so this Sunday when I found myself and my family with no agenda, (after I recovered from the shock of that), I jumped into my ill fitting bathing suit and headed straight for my pool raft.  This is one of my favorite places to be and I savor every minute that I get to enjoy it.  As I floated (for 4 hours! thank you 70 sun block) I was thinking about how the very nature of this day was a dream come true for me.  I’m a goal oriented person constantly adding to my list of goals and dreams and sometimes I, all of us, get so caught up in what’s the next thing on the list that we don’t take enough time to celebrate how much we’ve already accomplished.

Growing up in Queens NY we lived on the second floor of a co-op apartment. There was lots of grass to play on but there was no private space whatsoever. Great when you’re a kid but as a teenager I longed for privacy.  We had the corner apartment near the steps to the parking lot so everyone had to pass us by going and coming. In the summer I would sit out in front of our stoop in my bathing suit and bake. Yes, the days before we knew about sun damage, it was all about the baby oil, reflector and flip me when I’ve sufficiently roasted my milky white skin to a crisp on one side. 

Fortunately I have no visible skin damage from those days with the exception of some shoulder freckles courtesy of a 2nd degree burn from a beach stroll one Florida spring break, but I digress. Anyway, what I remember most about those days of sunbathing are the neighbors comments as they walked by “look at that cute little bod”,  “where’s the rest of that swim suit” , “don’t get too burned.”

Mortified, I’d dream of the day when I would have my own private backyard to lay out in.  Then when I was 22 I took a dream trip to California that changed me forever.  I remember flying over LAX and seeing nothing but backyard swimming pools, one after the other and with my nose pressed against the glass of that airplane I promised myself that someday I’d move to California and have my own private backyard and a sparkly blue swimming pool. 
  
View from my raft

I hope you’re living your dreams!

And as for the ill fitting bathing suit, stay tuned for some bathing suit shopping before our upcoming Tahoe vacation.  I’ll blog about the adventure, and believe me when you’re a DD on top and a size 4 on the bottom, it’s an adventure. This is the only time I actually have an aversion to shopping. Darn those florescent lights!