's motd Friday Nov 14, 2008

[Guest guest]

TIGHT

Friday, 14 November 2008

"Honey, I'm taking you shopping today.""Awwww Mom, please. Do me a favor and let me skip the shopping thing. I really don't want any new clothes.""! You get dressed this very minute. We're heading over to the Husky department at Sears. You need new clothes for school. Hurry now!"

"Oh! Okay Mom, I'll be ready in a few minutes."I had this conversation with my mother many, many times. See, I just hated to go clothes shopping. All the really nice clothes were on the second floor at Sears but the Husky department was located in the basement. I just dreaded going down there except I did like the fact that the Husky department was right next to the candy department."Let me measure your waist, Dicky," the salesman would say to me as he unrolled that long yellow measuring tape."No, you don't have to measure my waist," I'd tell him. "I'm sure these pants will fit me just fine."I'd grab a pair of pants from one of the racks and run to the dressing room. I didn't ever pick pants that were my right size because I couldn't stand even seeing those big numbers.I'm telling you, I'd huff, I'd puff and I'd s-q-u-e-e-z-e my body into those too-small sized pants. Then, after I finally got them on, I'd pull my shirt out so that no one could see how tight they were on me. I could see that my mother was so sad. She knew what was going on but she really didn't know what to say to me.

I played that little "these-will-fit" game for years, all the way up to my grownup-size 48-inch waistline! Oh yes, I would always try my best to squeeze into size 42 pants. I guess you could say I spent a lot of my years in tight clothes that didn't really fit. And my shirts always had to be big and blousy enough that I could wear them outside my pants and cover myself up.I was uncomfortable standing and I was uncomfortable sitting. Because when you're sitting in those too-small pants, your body, especially your tummy, just sort of hangs out. And when I took my pants and underwear off to get into my pajamas...yikes! There would be these little red marks all around my belly. They sort of looked like Egyptian hieroglyphics! But the next morning, I put those tight clothes on all over again. So, are you a member of the "Tight Club." When you were a kid, did you wear your clothes too tight because you refused to get them in the right size? And do you still do that? Are you in clothes right now that really don't belong on your body anymore because they're too small and...you know it?Aren't you tired, really, of being uncomfortable when it comes to what you wear? Well, check tomorrow's message and I'll give you the other side of the clothing-size coin.Love,