Twas Meant To Be

I had to buy a bathing suit.

Which meant:
1. Going to a mall.
2. Spending time in a small mirrored room illuminated by a fluorescent light wearing just my underwear.
3. Being disappointed in all the choices I've made for the past year.
4. Buying the least disgusting piece of fabric designed to cover as much skin as possible.

I arrived at Guildford with two things on my list. Mascara. Bathing suit.
(Hello? Butane curling iron. Why do I always forget to add that to my list?)

So I parked in my usual spot. Haha. The term, "usual spot" implies that I might shop all the time, and they, the mall, has a reserved area for me. This couldn't be further from the truth. I am a creature of habit. and from the time I started driving to the mall by myself, at age 16, right through to this afternoon, I automatically park in the area near 104th Street, at the Bay's side door entrance.

I wandered around the Bay to see if they had any swimwear. They did not, so I walked through to the mall, and looked for a Mall Directory/Map. This Guildford? Is not the Guildford of my youth. I don't know where any stores are. There used to be a SwimCo in the overpass part of the mall, but before I commit to walking all the way over there, I wanted to be sure it was there. Otherwise. Wasted effort.

The nearest directory was at the London Drugs entrance, which was a fair hike past an assortment of stores that never used to be there. I was getting hot. Malls are hot. I checked the interactive map and the search screen and it appeared that only a few of Guildford's tenants were actually listed on the map. Very few.   It was wholly unhelpful.

I purchased my mascara from London Drugs then did a circle around the various stores in the new part of the mall, but didn't see a single store with a bathing suit. So I bit the bullet and walked across the walkway (seriously, I did 10,000 steps just looking for a bathing suit this afternoon) hoping that the SwimCo store would still be there.

It was not.

So I kept walking all the way to Sears.
I checked out every single area of the 'woman's apparel' departments.

And there it was.
ONE RACK with swim wear.
One style of suit.
Four colors choices. (Black, turquoise, red, royal blue.)
Seven different sizes available.

My size?
There was one left.
In black.

Which made it easy,

In all of Guildford, (over 200 stores) there was one bathing suit in my size. It was in the last store, at the back.

I tried it on, (and by this time, I was overheating. Srsly. Why do these shops all have their furnaces blasting? SO. Fricken. Hot.) and it covered all the important bits. Sure, yeah, that fabric was stretched to within an inch of it's life; but it will do.



Two hours after I arrived, I left.
Went straight home and had a nap.

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. Travel opportunities. So thankful that Sandra invites me to join her on these annual conferences that take place in 'sunshine-states'.

2. I am so, so glad it's Friday.

3. Thankful for friends with October birthdays. Thankful for friends. Thankful for October.

Shalom,
xo