I am going to tell you to do one very important thing once a month. It is not what you may think. It’s not walking the dog, or eating right or taking a Yoga class. I am telling you (ladies) to try on your bathing suits once a month.

I came to this realization when packing last week for a weekend in the Finger Lakes with my husband.  We went to a spa and that means bathing suit…in public…..mixed gender. Ugh.

Now if I followed my now mandatory rule, I may have realized that in the Northeast, no one thinks about a bathing suit from late September to Memorial Day.  That being said: Shocker.  It really wasn’t that bad and actually a very old woman said she liked my bathing suit when I finally dropped the robe and ran for the hot tub.  It’s somewhat like the toothless-homeless man on Park Avenue years ago that whistled at me in the cross walk at 49th Street.  I actually went up to him and thanked him. It made my day.

Bathing suit season is coming and it stresses us all out.  It shouldn’t be a surprise since the seasons occur at about the same time every year.  I work out diligently, I eat well, especially this month since it is my goal on ‘the countdown to 50’ and I take care of my self.  Yet, that pesky thing called a bathing suit looms over my head. 

Bikini, Tankini, sport shorts, one piece, cover up, skirted or unskirted…..what’s the difference? All I know is that my stomach has not seen the sun since 1979, and that is true.   I was tempted in 1990 when my husband and I went to Italy for our delayed Honeymoon. (Hurricane Hugo hit the day we got married. There is a story there somewhere.)

We were sitting on the beach in Sicily, Taormina to be exact.  Beautiful…beach and people.  We took the funicula down to the crowded  beach. This couple pulls up two lounges next to us.  This woman was gorgeous and NOT afraid to let her stomach see the sun.  She lies down next to my husband, removes her cover up AND her top.  In her belly button she has an emerald-like stone, the size of a quarter. No Lie.  She turns to him and says, “che ora è?”. Meaning what time is it?  My poor newlywed husband doesn’t know whether to sh*@ or go blind. (His quote). I tell him that she is not flirting honey, she just wants to know the time!  I don’t think he has ever recovered from that.

Moral of the story: try on that bathing suit once a month.  You never know.  I would advise against putting stones in your belly button too.