notquiteold

Nancy Roman

Maybe Next Year

I told my husband about my dream – the one where he tells me I should buy a bikini.

He said, “Of course you would look great in a bikini.”

Which was

1.  Sweet.

2.  Required.

And last week we took a micro-vacation – two days and one night in Newport, Rhode Island. The first day was devoted to sightseeing, looking for a parking space, eating, looking for a parking space, kite-flying, looking for a parking space, shopping, looking for a parking space, eating, and looking for a parking space.

Day Two was our beach day.

After finding a parking space, we settled in with our umbrella, blanket, towels, beach chairs, cooler, and book.  Book is singular. My husband sleeps and I read.

I was deep into my book and my husband spoke. (He seemed to have uncharacteristically woken up.)

“You know,” he said, “You really could wear a bikini.”

I reminded him that although I now have a better body than I have had in a long time, it is still a sixty-one-year-old body.

“But look at that woman in the black bikini,” he said. “She looks okay, and you have a much nicer body than her.”

That got me out of my book. I looked around. But I didn’t see who he meant.

“Who?” I said.

“She walked off to the left,”  he said.

So I got up and walked to the water, and looked to my left. No one in a black bikini. Or navy, or purple. (Color can be tricky with a man.) I scanned the people to my right. (Direction can be tricky with a woman.)  I could not find the woman my husband had compared me to.

I walked back to the blanket, and my husband took my picture.

Me. Not fabulous, but not horrible either. That’s about as good as photography gets at 61.

**

But for rest of the day, I was consumed with searching the beach for a black-bikini-ed woman.

We have been home for four days now, and I can’t get that woman out of my mind.  Who is it that I look better than?

Certainly not Megan Fox.

Megan Fox. (I admit I am not sure who she is, but she seems famous.)

**

Or Cameron Diaz.

Cameron Diaz.

**

Maybe Hilary Duff.

Hilary Duff.

**

Maybe Jennifer Love Hewitt. People criticized how fat she was in this photo, but she looks pretty good to me.

Jennifer Love Hewitt.

**

I can’t help thinking that it was probably Keely Shaye Smith.

Keely Shaye Smith

**

But hey. Pierce Brosnan loves her. That’s okay in my book!

**

Maybe next year.

Me at sixty-two?

44 Comments

  1. Love the pictures. You look great. Megan Fox is a skeleton.

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    • Thanks. I can’t help wishing I were just a tad more skeletal.

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    • grownupmale

      agreed. the Auschwitz look is gross. Actually I would jump on Keely Shaye Smith first.

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  2. pharphelonus

    You look great Nancy. All those twigs are just kindling.

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    • Yeah. I’m the big log.

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      • pharphelonus

        I didn’t say that at all.

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  3. You look great. Be happy with your body. Flaunt it. I am with your hubby get a bikini. Make the men stare at you and their wives go hunting for you.

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    • Oh… I would love for men to stare, but those days are so over.

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      • You would be surprised. It’s the darn women that like to judge. We will stare at everything and believe me you would get stared at.

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  4. I say go for it. Your hubby gets super bonus points.

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  5. Look good Nance. Yeah, you could wear a bikini. I am amazed at the young girls today. No matter what their body shape, they wear a bikini. Go for it!

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    • This seems to be the consensus. I’m going for it. As long as it is cheap enough that I won’t cry if it sits in the drawer.

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  6. As my mother used to say, “Today you look the best you will look for the rest of your life.” (Yes, she could be a downer at times!) I am climbing into my swimsuit in a couple weeks and I am terrified! (Maybe I will lounge in cutoffs….again. And you…you look wonderful!

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    • I believe everyone should wear a bathing suit… including YOU! I am just a little doubtful about how skimpy a suit should be.

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  7. Wow. I don’t look that good now. And I seriously want to feed Megan Fox something. She is very hard to look at.

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    • What gives me hope is Helen Mirren. If you haven’t seen her in a bikini… just do an image search for her. AMAZING! And she was 62, I think, when those red bikini pictures were taken.

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  8. You look great! You could absolutely wear a bikini. But do you really want to? I think I wouldn’t be able to read (or talk, or even sleep) for fear of a piece of flab going astray. Not that I saw any flab on you…

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    • My too-big tankini top covered my little pooch. No covering with a bikini, but if I keep up with the yoga and zumba….

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  9. I hope I look that good when I’m 61! If you got it flaunt it honey!

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    • Thanks… it’s an all-out effort to stay young. I am NOT aging gracefully.

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  10. Cute post and you look fantastic!

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    • Thanks…. I’m glad it was from a distance and a little dark.

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      • Haha! Yes, I wish all of my pictures were like that.

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  11. Too cute! Brownie points for the hub! I think you would look great in a bikini, but more importantly, how comfortable will you be in the bikini?

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  12. Your husband is right – you’re a babe…and the others? Meh – if we had eight hours a day to work out, have facials, massages, chefs, personal trainers and an unlimited supply of money…and then I would still be left wondering how happy all these people are.

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    • You got that right… those women have a LOT of help. I just need a lot of help.

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  13. Great photo of you! Maybe while he was asleep, your hubby was dreaming he saw a woman in a black bikini….. And realized how much better you would look in one….

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    • Good point… I am glad he sees me through his memory-filter, though.

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  14. You don’t need a bikini girl … whats-a-matter-you-anyway?

    DS

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  15. To wear a bikini is my fondest dream. I think you look great and if I were you, I’d go for it. Show ’em what a young 61 can do! 🙂

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  16. You look fabulous. Seriously. I’d just buy the bikini and rock it if I were you. Your husband would sit in his chair and nap a proud man to have his beautiful wife reading by his side.

    You only live once. 😉

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  17. Yu Luke FAB-u-LOUS! Nice pictures but better sketch.

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  18. You look fabulous! Don’t wait! Run out and buy that bikini, so you won’t turn 65 and think, “I should have worn that bikini when I was 61 and looked so great.”

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  19. Nancy you look fabulous. Wear the bikini for me. I don’t look quite so good.

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  20. You look fabulous. Maybe buy a matching pair of black speedos for your hubby whilst you’re at it – equal opportunity and all…

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  21. i agree with all the commenters. get the bikini! post a photo and we will tell you you look fab! you DO NOT want to reach 65 and regret not doing it. plus, i have seen some women out there in bikinis this season. it seems “more is less” this summer.

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  22. You need to get over you issues! You look fabulous and far better than the twigs you put up to compare yourself to.

    Love the post and agree with your husband (love him).

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  23. You know what’s odd? Women of all shapes and sizes will wear a bikini on a beach and nobody is shocked, but if my teenaged son happens to glimpse me in my underwear, his reaction would make you think I was running around naked. Maybe I should wear a bikini as underwear. I’m sure as heck never going to wear one as a swimsuit in public.

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  24. You know what’s odd? Women of all shapes and sizes will wear a bikini on a beach and nobody is shocked, but if my teenaged son happens to glimpse me in my underwear, his reaction would make you think I was running around naked. Maybe I should wear a bikini as underwear. I’m sure as heck never going to wear one as a swimsuit in public.

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  25. HI! I am Carla. I just happened to check your post out and follow you. I am middle aged at 46 and menopausal so I can’t win. You look marvelous in your picture! I would give anything to be that little again. I would even wear a bikini if I could look like Keely Shaye Smith in one lol!

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  26. That pic your husband took of you? Hey, you ARE fabulous!!!!! 🙂

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