A "Minor" Miracle

A couple of weeks ago, I was given a Kohl's gift card for my birthday. (Thanks, Dad and Jennifer!) So today I decided that I had put it off long enough, and I was going to go do some shopping for... GASP... me!

I'm going to be real honest with you... I was not looking forward to it. Did I need some new shirts? Yes. Desperately. But I hate, hate, hate clothes shopping for myself.

I'll give you three guesses why.

I hate clothes shopping for myself because I hate the way I look. The clothes may look all cute and stuff on the hangers, but for some reason once I put them on me they look hideous. Or maybe it's just me.

But today was the day and I was bound and determined. So Steve and Nate dropped me off in the Women's (aka Plus Size, aka Fat Lady) section, and then they ran for the hills. Yeah, they know how I am.

So I found some shirts that I liked. And I found the size that I am (I'm not going to tell you what size... but let's just say there was a number in front of an X). I found some good deals and I found some cute shirts and I made my way to the fitting room.

And once I was safely locked behind that fitting room door, I looked at myself in the mirror. Hands full of clothes, eyes full of dread. And I just did not want to try on those clothes only to be disappointed again.

So what's a girl to do?

I prayed.

I really did. I stood there and I prayed that this would not be a horrible experience and that I would be able to find SOMETHING that actually looked good on me.

And then I started trying on shirts.

And an amazing thing happened.

I put on a shirt and thought to myself, "Hmmm, it's cute... but kind of baggy."

So I tried on another shirt, and thought the same thing.

(And just so you know, I do not like fitted shirts. My friend D accuses me often of trying to hide my bulk by dressing myself in circus-tent-like clothing, but these shirts were even too baggy for me! And that's saying something!)

By this time I was feeling a bit confused, but I kept trying on clothes, and the next shirt fit me pretty well. But then I tried on one just like it but in another color and it was way too baggy on me again.

At this point, I was just baffled enough to start my own investigation, and I noticed that the one shirt that had actually fit, that had not been too baggy, was mislabeled. The hanger said the size that I usually get. But the shirt itself was a size down.

My moth dropped open when I realized that my usual size was too big, and the right fit was actually a size smaller. Still an X... but one number down.

So I went back out and got smaller sizes in all the shirts and tried them all on and
THEY ALL FIT!

I was able to buy 5 shirts that I really liked and that actually didn't look too bad on me.

It was a shopping miracle!

And it was also a much needed reminder that even though the scale has been moving down S-L-O-W-L-Y, I am still making progress and I just need to keep it up!