A chance encounter

[darkemeralds]

I've taken some pleasure lately in the fact that I can once again buy "regular" sized clothes in "regular" stores, and have enjoyed not being limited to the sometimes-bizarre styles on offer in the plus-size shops. So it was kind of a whim for me to stop in at The Avenue this afternoon, just to look around.

A striking looking woman of my height sighed as she leafed through a rack of trousers. "They always run out of talls," she said, and I agreed that talls were rare in this shop. Then she spotted a pair, said they were a size too small, held them up, and added, "But I'm losing weight, so they might fit in a few weeks."

"How are you doing it?" I asked.

"My own way," she said. "I eat whatever I want, but less of it. I've tried everything else. Oh, and I Zumba twice a week."

You must understand that I rarely talk to strangers. I'm what you might call aloof. I don't mean to be, but I just am. Finding myself in avid conversation with a stranger in a neighborhood clothing shop was both strange and delightful, and I hope I know how to seize an opportunity when it insists. I asked this woman--Lesley, her name is--where she takes Zumba.

At a club in my neighborhood, it turns out. A nice club, a local one, where women of all sizes feel welcome. The Zumba teacher on Tuesday and Thursday evenings is plus-size herself, and everyone has a good time. "You could come with me as my guest the first time," Lesley said. "And if you wanted to join the club, I could probably talk them into giving you the discount they give me." Lesley is the type of woman who could probably talk anyone into anything. "And then you can take all the Zumba, and yoga, and Pilates classes for free! And it's open 24 hours a day!"

So I'm gonna go. We exchanged phone numbers, set a date (next Tuesday), and I'm going to meet Lesley at ME Fitness on the corner of Martin Luther King and Alberta (about 16 blocks from home), and finally try Zumba.

Oh, and I found a pair of nice black slacks in 14 Tall that look fabulous. zoz

Comments

[bluemeridian]

Shopping off the rack at a regular store! \o/ \o/

[darkemeralds]

In this instance I was shopping off the rack at a plus size store, and happily discovering that their lowest size, 14, sometimes fits and is sometimes too big, but is never in short supply, just the way the teeny sizes are always filling the clearance racks at the regular size stores.

The plus size shop also offers me the advantage of bigger size socks and hosiery, which is nice because my feet aren't going to get any smaller, nor my legs any shorter.

But yeah, getting down into the mainstream sizes really opens the fashion doors, and I'm enjoying it.

[blueraccoon]

Don't be so sure about your feet not getting any smaller. I lost all my weight and went from a size 9 to a size 8.5. How this happened completely baffled me, because I've been a regular 9 since wearing adult shoes. I was edging into 9W or 9.5 territory at my highest weight, so getting back to a regular 9 wasn't surprising, but then my feet got smaller. I'm still bitter about all my shoes that no longer fit...

[darkemeralds]

I remember you mentioning this! Though I haven't lost a shoe size or anything, my feet have returned to being a little narrower, which is nice. But I wear an 11 now, and even if I shrink all the way to a 10, socks and hosiery still tend to be a bit of a literal stretch. It's nice to find them made for larger feet. It's surprising how uncomfortable too-small socks can be!

(I sincerely hope I don't wind up at a 10-1/2--IMPOSSIBLE size to fit!)