How 'Bout Those Legs!

Whenever "shorts" season arrives - I find myself feeling a little vulnerable. In the winter it's easy to hide those ripply, white gams - but in the summer - well...all's out for the world to see.

I had an aunt once (well, I still have her) but I remember as a kid how she never, ever wore shorts. Or dresses. And I never once in my whole lifetime saw her don a swimsuit (and she had a pool!) No matter how hot, or how humid - she always wore pants. Those icky polyester duds that were fashionable several decades ago. She thought she was fat. But relatively speaking - she really wasn't. She was a bit overweight - but still looked good to me in my youthful bliss.

And as I look back I think of how sad her life must have been (at least in the respect of letting her weight cripple her.) She never in her adult life - went swimming. Ever. She always sat on the side lines at picnic and parties. She wasn't a participate in life. She was a bystander. She just spent her life watching it go by.

I don't want to be like that.

I want to live my life. I want to enjoy it. We fickle creatures that make up the female population seem to think the whole world is watching us. And judging us. They're not. They're worried about themselves. And how they look. And how they're being judged.

So I wear shorts! But I make sure my legs are always shaved and I wear self-tanner. Can I drop a name here? I always use Loreal Sunnless Tanner . It has a tint to it, so you can see where it's going (meaning no streaks) and you get an instant tan instead of waiting for hours for it to appear. I remember once I used this other brand and the trolloped off to a picnic only to find several hours later (to my horror) that I had this huge brown spot on the back of one thigh and a stripe running across the front of one of my shins!

I only use it on my legs. Somehow tanned legs look slimmer. They appear to have more definition. Spider veins diminish too. And the best part is I don't feel self-conscious anymore. An added bonus is that the walking has firmed up my calves (which makes my ankles look trimmer!)

So this babe isn't going to let life slip by while she waits for thin. Thin will come. Life will not wait for that day. It doesn't have a pause button. Or rewind.

I wish someone had told my aunt that.