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Thursday was a particularly eventful day. It was eventful because it finally really hit me that I would be doing another triathlon in a little over a week and I still hadn’t bought the dreaded wetsuit. I checked the time and realized that I should have enough time to drive out to the scuba shop, get a wetsuit and be back in time for a Big Brother party we were attending.

It ended up taking much longer to get there than I had anticipated. I’m not sure what was going on, but a street was blocked off and traffic was backed up big time. By the time we got to the scuba shop, the kids had already been in the car for over an hour and were antsy.

I went in and explained to the owner that I was looking for a triathlon wet suit. The kids zoomed in on the store’s rack of ocean stuffed animals. I grabbed a couple wetsuits to try on and the kids, the stuffed animals and I all went into a large bathroom to try the wetsuits on. The wetsuits. How should I explain them? Basically with a triathlon wetsuit the rubber is on the outside of the suit. It honestly looks like whale skin. There’s just no other way to put it. I don’t have to worry about buying a Halloween costume this year. I can just wear my “whalesuit” and go as a whale. I of course had to have the owner help me zip up the wetsuit and I was embarrassed not only to be seen in this outfit, but that my underwear and bra were exposed by the unzipped parts of the suit.

The boys were starting to really lose it at this point. My older son suggested looking around in the store. I point blank told them that there was no way that I was chasing after them in a wetsuit in a store full of people. They could tell I was serious and calmed down. Plus I decided if there were a time for bribery this was it. If they behaved themselves, I would buy them each a stuffed animal. They were pleased.

I purchased my wetsuit and a bought a bottle of wetsuit shampoo. The owner said I would need to use it after a couple wearings of the wetsuit. Seeing as there is no way I wanted to drive all the way back there and the shampoo was only $5, I decided to just purchase it. The boys and I got back in the car and headed to the party. For a good portion of the ride, my older son talked about how beautiful I looked in my new swimsuit. That’ s love for you!

by Alex Elliot

Photo graciously provided by erikogan, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved