Incoherent Scribblings

Bikini Season

I remember the first bikini I bought. It was an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny yellow polka dot bikini; I was 13 and I finally had something (albeit little) to put in the top. From that point on, I exclusively bought bikinis. I was lucky enough that they looked good on me, but the main reason I bought them is because I could never find a one-piece swimming suit that fit me properly.

When I was in my early twenties, I had a shiny rainbow snakeskin bikini that I absolutely loved. However, it was a little on the skimpy side and when the dean of our library school invited the small group of us that organized student activities to his yacht club, I decided it was time for me to buy a more modest suit.

I wasn’t looking for a one-piece, just a bikini that covered a little more, but when I stumbled upon a pretty blue-green one-piece with a “long torso” that was on sale, I tried it on and it fit. I wore it to the dean’s yacht club and didn’t figure I would ever wear it again.

Unfortunately, over the next couple of years I gained some weight. The snakeskin bikini didn’t fit very well anymore, so I put it away and the one-piece became my swimming suit of choice. Though I longed for my bikini days, for the most part I was satisfied wearing a one-piece on the few occasions that I was out in the sun.

Then I moved to Europe and I discovered that most of the ladies here wear bikinis when they sunbathe. Age and body type don’t seem to matter, because bikinis give one the freedom to sunbathe topless if one so desires.

By the second spring we lived here I had lost about twenty pounds. I was still by no means back to the weight that I was when I was 22, but I had lost most of my tummy and I started thinking about getting a bikini again.

Then one fine spring day last year when I was window shopping, I decided to try on bikinis for the hell of it. I didn’t really expect to find one that fit well enough to make me feel comfortable about wearing it in public, but I did. It was a completely different design than what I would have bought in the past and, as far as bikinis go, quite modest, but it fit and I liked it. So I bought it. But for some reason, we didn’t go swimming at all last summer and I never even got a chance to wear it.

However, yesterday the weather was warm and beautiful and I decided that I wanted to go to the little lake near our house and sunbathe. I wore a bikini for the first time in over five years and it felt wonderful! I didn’t exercise my option to sunbathe topless, but who knows? Next time I just might!