Swimsuit hell

My oldest leaves in a week to go on a mission trip. She is very excited and we are as well, but the packing list makes my head hurt a little. They are going on a trip associated with a youth ministry/mission organization and they have fairly detailed requirements for what people can wear. I get it. No one needs to be looking like a hoochie when doing acts in the name of God. Sends a mixed message. But when I have a child who is 13 and lanky. She is closing in on me in height, which is still not tall, but her height and waist size don't really play nice with each other. She could wear a girl's 8-10 shorts...except for the fact that the length would be wildly inappropriate and uncomfortable for even the shorty-shortiest aficionado. So on our quest to find loose, but not too loose, fingertip, but not too much longer shorts, I thought we were going to kill each other. We finally had to settle on boy's shorts which are not the most flattering to a girl's figure...but then we circle back to the "you can't be in mission and look too tight-short-or female" philosophy that this organization adopts. Again, I get it. They are going to be working on the grounds of a group home for troubled kids. Fashion statements are not needed. God's love and light are. Their specifications were also specific about swimsuits. So are the hub's and mine. Again, at her age the line quickly goes from cute to hoochie quickly. Here is my conversation with the hub when S was off desperately trying to find an appropriate suit in another part of the store:

Me: This may take a while. We are now in our 5th store. Unbelieveable.
Hub: So sorry. The boy and I are building his Lego set...we're on page 44 of about 5.5 million.
Me: Wow. Better your eyes than mine.
Hub: True.
Me: The bathing suits we have found either make her look like a streetwalker or a three year old. It is very frustrating.
Hub: I'm okay with the three year old look for a bit longer.
Me: Honey? When I say 3 year old, I mean it would only fit on a three year old...thus reverting the look once again to hoochie status.
Hub: Oh. I see.
Me: I gotta go. I need to get the girl some hydration and a snack. She may smack down a mannequin in frustration.
Hub: Get on that. I'm going to finish this Chima ship and finish watching the Indy 500.
Me: Pray for us both.

Finally, at store number 8, we found a possibility. I hugged her in the swim section and said, "Praise The Lord!!" maybe a bit louder than one might want to in a department store. People looked. I don't care. Mission accomplished. I got to go home and start on my book again...just to find that one of my new favorite characters had gotten shot in the back with a shotgun.

Just send me back to the swimsuit section. I mean, really.




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