Ladies Only...

Frustration and low self esteem abound!
This is about bra shopping. ugh! You know where I'm going with this, don't you?
Ok, let's try to start at the beginning:
I have never liked my boobs/breasts. I have always thought I was too big! When I began "developing" I remember making the conscious choice to slouch so as to not show them off. Hence I've slouched for over 25 years. And I'm just trying very hard to not do so, thanks to some pilates training (the first digression).
I have been wearing a 36C for many years. It seemed to work just fine. Years and pounds creep on; I try to maintain, but "my cup[s] runneth over". You know that little bulge over the edge of the bra in the front, not to mention the "back fat"! Then to compound it all it seems I always needed my right shoulder strap so much tighter, it would always fall down - annoying. Putting up the strap became a "costume habit" (like the Star Trek characters always pulling the waist of their costume when they stood up...it became a character costume habit...drove me nuts to watch it: the second digression).
I kept trying a variety of bras, mostly from Land's End [mail order], and all 36C. I even tried a Hanes bra [mail order]. Still spilling over or straps falling down. agghh!
The "shelf bras"/bralettes worked the best: no cups per se; no real support (who cares!); no underwires; very basic and very hard to find!
My pilates instructor suggested I get a bra fitting.
In the meantime I saw an article on the Huffington Post stating that the "old" popular bra size was 36C and now the new popular cup size is D and DD! Hmmm....I began preparing myself for another size.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/fashion/09bra.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
Well, today, I had some time I thought I try this bra fitting thing. I was more than nervous about what I would learn about my size!
I went to Maidenform at the Outlet Malls in Williamsburg.
(The third digression: by the amount of people shopping today it certainly seemed like the US economy is doing just fine! ha!)
Well, the young sales girl #1 sized me up visually. What? No measuring tape? No math? I'm a professional costumer, dammit, measure me properly! A 38DD! OMG! I tried on 3 of her selections. I began to sob in the changing room. These bras made me look FAT AND OLD! I was mortified!!! I came out (red faced & tearful) and continued to browse. I tried 6 more on in the size and styles she recommended. I continued to sob in the dressing room. I came out and another sales lady (the manager) asked me how I was doing? Red-faced, I tearfully handed her the selections and told her it was not a good self-esteem day. I was ready to walk out, wondering when it would be a good day to bra shop and not feel OLD AND FAT! She comforted me. I wanted pretty bras, I wanted "young" bras. I felt like I would be delegated to beige and white old lady bras! Bras with visible darted seams on the front, like Grandma's! OMG! All the pretty bras seemed to be in smaller sizes and all the BIG AND FAT boring bras were the ones that "fit" me!
Enter young sales girl #2. She understood, somehow. She found basic and lacy and colored bras for me, suitable for plunging necklines, push up bras! Bras that fit and made me feel much better albeit a new size. Up a band width and cup to a whopping 38D! Gads. Those of you that know me and how I look will say (and I agree with you) I'm not THAT BIG! But somehow the anatomy shift now fits the cut of [this] cloth. I'm still coming to grips with the size and how the bras look without clothes over them, and I seem to look "ok" with clothes on over them. And by gosh and by golly do I have boobs now! I think they make me slouch less.
I am going to write a thank you not to sales girl #2. I did thank her for her patience with me when she rang up my purchases. I will continue to shop Land's End with this new size and see what happens.
p.s. I have now discovered that these bras will not fit in my dresser drawer! So, they're actually all on one hanger in my closet!!!
Thanks for listening [reading].