Yes. To answer the most-asked question of the season. Yes.聽
I have my beach body. It鈥檚 ready. Ready for the beach. Ready for a swimsuit. I have about eight of them that are just longing 鈥� if not outright aching in all their spandex glory 鈥� for enough consecutive warm days to venture to the beach and meet the sun.聽
I鈥檓 eight and 10 years post-baby. My skin is showing its age. It鈥檚 stretched. It鈥檚 marked. It鈥檚 sagging in some spots 鈥� my Grade 8 gym teacher was right about not doing enough triceps exercises 鈥� but, as the kids say, whatevs! (They are still saying that, right?)
I鈥檓 carrying extra weight, but let鈥檚 be honest, I always have. Despite this, I鈥檓 pretty comfortable in a bathing suit. As an adult I鈥檝e always been a bigger size. Well, sizes. Because, really, variety is the spice of life 鈥� and evidently I like life, like my food, spicy.聽
I grew up on a lake in the summers and I don鈥檛 recall wearing much besides a bathing suit. When I was young, the less clothing I could get away with, the better. I loved my striped bikinis and wore them until they were threadbare.
But I donned my last two-piece when I was about eight or nine. I鈥檓 not sure whose choice it was to not buy another, mine or my mother鈥檚, but around that age, I became keenly aware of my body and the fact that it didn鈥檛 look like some of my friends, who were naturally toned and athletic. I wasn鈥檛 overweight then, but I wasn鈥檛 slim either.聽
I grew up in an environment where looks were valued. It was hard to escape the emphasis put on outward appearances; they were commented upon frequently in our home by friends and even by strangers.聽
Two years ago, my sister and I took our mom to Mexico to celebrate her 70th birthday. A friend remarked before our departure that I must be excited, that it would feel so good to feel the sun on my belly after the long, cold winter we had just experienced. I withered inside. My tummy hadn鈥檛 seen the sun in over three decades. Suddenly that didn鈥檛 seem fair.
Far away from North American soil, I found it eye-opening to be among such a diverse, international body-positive crowd. There were all walks of life, all shapes and sizes and these women were wearing bikinis! They wore them with pride, encouraging the sun to shine on them everywhere that was legally permissible. I was gob-smacked. It may have had to do less with cultural norms and more about what I was willing to see at this point in my life, but I was astounded by the sheer number of women who were so completely comfortable in their skin, no matter how much of it they had.
It was a 180-degree difference from our views of bodies here at home. And I want my girls to grow up knowing that it鈥檚 more than OK to wear a bathing suit at the beach, that they don鈥檛 need to hide under shorts and t-shirts or cover-ups. And if they choose to wear a one-piece or a two-piece, no one is going to dictate which is right. I also want them to have memories of their mom who swam and played with them in the water.聽
So, last week, I did something a little out of my comfort zone. I added a bikini to my bathing suit repertoire. My body is longing for the sun and the beach, and it鈥檚 ready for anything this year.聽
Beach plus body equals ready!
