Plus Size Friendship

I have a friend in Kansas named Sarah.  We taught together, got our Master degrees together and share many of the same interests.  Among those interest we both especially love are shopping for clothes, swimming and sun tanning.

While these are very normal and common interests for girl- friends to share, there is one little twist to our sisterhood; We are both over-weight.  Uhmmm more than 10 pounds over weight too. (I say this because I hear little skinny women talk and talk about how they are dieting, blah blah blah and they are about the size of my right leg!) 

Anyway, Sarah and I never let "a few pounds" stop us. We both shop for clothes like we are wearing a size 8. Together we own more clothes than any 10 people I know. We tell each other where we get bargains.  We have the same taste and once in a while even bought the same thing.  We both also love accessories to go with all those outfits.  And then of course we had to have shoes to match every outfit. 

In the summer it was even better.  Both of us love the water.  Both of us love to swim.  Both of us grew up lifeguarding at pools. AND neither one of us let "a few pounds" stop us from going to the pool every day and swimming and working on our tans.  I don't mean we did this as teenagers, I am talking about doing this as grown women.  Sarah and I would meet at the pool each day, bring with us our favorite books and lay out.  Yes, we got in the water and swam too.  Sometimes our books never opened because we spent the entire afternoon gabbing.  But we had the best tans in our town.  We both managed to get very dark....and were proud of it.  I know, I know....I have heard everything there is to hear about the sun.  But I have been outside in the sun since I was a very little girl.  I grew up swimming and playing outside.  I have never stopped.  It is too late for me to worry about it now.  Sarah feels the same way.  So we wiled away our summer-vacations-from-teaching at the pool getting great tans....and not caring that we were two of the larger people there. And then when school started our tans looked oh-so-nifty in our new wardrobes!
Sarah is beautiful inside and out. She is the music teacher and her singing is absolutely divine.  I always liked to stand beside her at ballgames and during the Star-Spangled Banner I would lip sync and hope that those around us would think that was me singing! 

 *(The only picture I could think of to go with this post were of my tan feet.  The picture is of my husband and myself.  I could not resist snapping the pic, because of the obvious difference in our tans!)

The first time I wrote a blog (back in '07), Sarah was always the first one to read it and write me about it.  She always encouraged me to write.  

Isn't it great to have a friend like that?  One that knows you well and you do not have to have any pretenses around?
I miss Sarah.  I miss being envious of her latest outfit. I miss comparing tans. I miss opening our books together and never getting the first line read because we were talking so much. I miss faking that her voice was coming from me! The hardest part of moving is leaving friends behind.


I consider myself lucky to call Sarah my friend.
Happy Birthday Sarah!