By
Sari Botton,
who publishes the newsletters Oldster Magazine and Memoir Land.
Is there anything more vulnerable than wearing a swimsuit in public when you’re self-conscious about your body’s shape and size? Or more demoralizing than trying suits on at the beginning of beach season? These are things I’ve dreaded forever — starting when my body developed and expanded during puberty, and even more so since my body began changing progressively from perimenopause right on through to post-menopause, where I’m at now: softening even more than usual; filling out in new spots, sometimes lumpily; and wrinkling.
I grew up in beach towns on the south shore of Long Island, and when I visit my family there, I still love swimming, lying on a chaise, and walking along the shore. In Kingston, where I now live, my husband and I are members of a low-frills pool club (it’s actually a day camp that lets adults use the pool evenings and weekends), and I enjoy cooling off in the water on hot days.
