Raquel and The Bikini

Let's start putting things in a bit of a nutshell so to speak, shall we? We adjusted, not always easily, to my new “apparatus”. Through trial and error we found the right supplies for me. Starting school each year my mom would meet with my teachers (in elementary school) to let them know of my condition. Yeah, there were several times right up through high school that my bag failed and that left me hiding in the girls room until the office could call my mom who would leave work and come to take me home to take care of the situation. My mom was a rock!

Does anyone remember Parade magazine that used to come in the Sunday newspaper? In the early 70's they ran an article on Raquel Welch. One picture took my self esteem down to less than zero and left it there for a very long time. In the picture, Raquel was wearing a white, beaded bikini. We all know how gorgeous she was and still is. But I fixated on her stomach. It was tan and beautiful and perfect. My point is that I had no dreams I would ever look like Raquel Welch, like, really, come on now! But the thought hit me that I would never be able to wear a bikini. Hell, at that point it was even hard to find one piece bathing suits that didn't accentuate the hump on my lower back. I have vague memories of some really horrible suits with skirts **shudder**! It just stuck with me, honestly, even a little to this very day. Silly maybe to some. I think this is where my self deprecation started it's long spiral downward.