October was a good month for walking. My total for the month was one hundred twenty-seven and 4 one-hundredths miles, or 127.04. That brings my total to three thousand thirty and 4 tenths, or 3030.40. Am I excited to have passed the three thousand mile mark? Oh, you betcha! There is just something about those hundred mile marks, and the thousand mile marks are even better. I have a long way to go yet, but I am undaunted (that's a very satisfying word by the way; you should try it sometime). I'm still out in the Pacific Ocean and I still have a long way to go to get to Hawaii, but it is warm, sunny, calm and peaceful out here and I am surrounded by water. That's a good thing.
Not all of those miles were on foot. Recently the YMCA in our area ran a special. If you joined in September you and everyone in your household could join and the total cost for everyone would be $39 per month through the end of the year. So Mr. Marvelous and I both joined the Y for a good price. This is great for Mr. Marvelous. His new job is about a mile away from his favorite Y so he goes and works out either before work in the morning or during his lunch hour. And me? Well, for the first time in two years, I am back swimming! I am thrilled that I am able to do this again; I love being in the water even if I am just floating, but being able to add to my total daily miles makes it even better.
There was just one problem. When I went and pulled my bathing suit out of the bottom dresser drawer where it has been for the past two years, the elastic in the arm straps quit. You men can't appreciate this fully, but you women know exactly what that meant. A new bathing suit. Try to buy one of those in October! Somehow the word still has not gotten around to the local department stores (or even places like Academy Sports) that there is this marvelous new invention known as "Indoor Pool". Bless their hearts. I tried, I really did, but there were just no suits to be found. Okay, so maybe there were a few, but Mama doesn't wear a two-piece of any sort, let alone a bikini (sorry to put that image in your brain. Don't worry, it will fry out in a decade or two. I hope.). I don't even wear a one piece when the legs come up to my underarms and there are holes in the sides. I know that some people think those holes are supposed to be there, but not in MY bathing suits, thank you very much. At my age, I am strictly a swim dress girl.
There was nothing else to do but go on-line and see what was available. Have you priced on-line bathing suits lately? Even in October the prices are a little bit much. Land's End is usually my go-to for bathing suits, but their prices were just more than I wanted to pay. So I went to Amazon. Ah-Ha! I found it! A nice, modest bathing suit with good reviews. The reviews all said that the sizing seemed accurate and women were raving about the fact that they were able to order their normal size and they fit. And the price was half what Land's End wanted. I was thrilled! I placed the order and settled myself in to wait for a couple of days. Amazon tends to get their orders to me within a couple of days; I have never had to wait as long as a week.
Within a couple of hours, the seller sent me an email proudly announcing that my NEW BATHING SUIT would arrive by......wait for it.....November 25. Wait, what? November 25?? This was early October, what did they mean November 25??!! Then I read the fine print at the bottom of the email. The order was coming from China. Shipping from China. Nowhere in the information on the original page on Amazon did it say this would ship from China. I went back and checked. I am not in the habit of buying things from China. In the spirit of Sam Walton, I normally prefer to buy American (not that this is easy to do these days). China?!
My long face alerted Mr. Marvelous to a problem. He asked what was going on. I told him. He then gave a decree. He did not want me to have to wait until November to be able to swim. Would I be able to return the bathing suit to China after it arrived? Yes. Therefore, I was to go and get a bathing suit from Land's End and pay Land's End prices in order to BE DONE WITH THE BATHING SUIT SHOPPING (my quests challenge his patience).
So. I ordered the bathing suit from Land's End. The day before it was due to arrive in the mail, guess what? Yup. The bathing suit from China got here five weeks early. I thought, "Hmm". So I brought it in the house and tried it on, thinking that maybe I could return the (expensive) Land's End bathing suit and keep the (cheap) China bathing suit.
Did you know that folks in China are not tall? I'm not tall either in my opinion. My sister in law Nancy and my friend Susan disagree with that, but I'm really not that tall. I'm only 5'8" ~ probably 5'7.5" at this point in life. Can you guess where I am going with this? Even though I don't think I am tall, apparently to people in China I am a giant. The bathing suit size was OK....if I had been a mere 3-5 inches shorter. It was pretty funny. And a more than a bit uncomfortable.
I have been to the Y and have already put in enough laps to make half a mile. I'm looking forward to getting several more. And in spite of the fact that my friend Clair thinks the swimming miles should count double (since I am using my arms AND my legs), I'm still just counting them the same as the miles I walk. As the trip goes on I may adopt her view of things!
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