Friday, May 12, 2006

I bet she used to be hot!

Remember the post about my sister-in-law (SIL) and her all-too-sudden announcement that she'd be getting married back in January? Yesterday we took the day off work to attend their traditional Shinto ceremony.

Yes, the ceremony was held a THURSDAY at a real shrine. And, for those who live in Japan, let me repeat that. A REAL, authentic shrine - not a hotel with small fake shrine or a tiny wedding chapel just inside the lobby - but a real one deep in the heart of Tokyo.

For the first time in 5 years, I wore a real dress. I was always self-concious about my legs, which are out of proportion to the rest of my body. Why is it that some people who are considered overweight have awesome, muscular legs? Why is it that I (who admittedly am bordering on overweight herself!) have really fat calves? For those of you who reside in the USA, perhaps this doesn't seem like a big deal to you. Living in Japan with all these skinny-minnies, I have grown much more self-conscious about the size of my legs. Anyway, I attended a friend's wedding about a month ago, and my husband was giving me advice about what to wear at the last minute, but we realized that I own nothing appropriate for a Japanese wedding.

The ladies who attend weddings in this country wear the most beautiful outfits, almost always in pastel colors, which could just make you wanna puke under any other circumstance. I wasn't planning to buy one for myself, but a few days before SIL's wedding, I went to Jusco (like JCPenneys) to buy a nice shirt that would match my normal uniform of black pants (that I wear to work every day.) Before purchasing, I thought I should just ask Suk which one was most appropriate for his sister's wedding. He took one look at the shirts I had chosen and said, "Well, the mothers will be wearing kimono, so you have to dress up more. Where are the dresses for weddings?" Oh, great. Do I have to buy one of those fancy pastel numbers?

We quickly found a few dresses and I tried them on. It's hard to find an appropriate size here. Most foreigners have problems. The first year I lived here, I used to get so upset that I had to buy LL size everything! Sometimes LL didn't even fit me, and I would cry about it. And my dress/shirt size is right 15 (Japanese size), but most displays only go up to 15, and usually it's rare to find anything left in that size. (So, someone must be buying them!) Anyway, I got a pink dress and a matching tweed jacket with a fake diamond clasp. PINK!


Me and my mother-in-law. She was SO jealous of my pink dress because she is crazy about the color herself!

Nonetheless, I was quite proud of myself for getting over my complex about my legs. I wouldn't say that I am totally over it, but I decided that since I am turning 30 this year, I should just get over it. People aren't looking at me and saying, "She's hot, except for the legs," anymore. They're looking at me and saying, "I bet she used to be hot." So, what! I am a-okay with that.

6 comments:

Helen said...

Girl-YOU are hot now! Have confidence! Hey, I'm much, much bigger than you and when I get dressed up I think I'm pretty hot stuff.

How about uploading a pic of you in your dress? We'd all love to see it!

Helen said...

Me again...thanks for the picture. You looked great. It's a nice dress. You are hot!

deenster said...

Nice dress! I think the color looks really nice on you. I also hate shopping in Japan...it can be a very traumatic experience. But then I look around at all the young high school girls who are often taller and bigger than me, and I realize that stores will have to start offering a wider variety of sizes soon...

Karen said...

You look great! I hate wearing dresses and skirts because it means shaving. Yuck! If you think people care about calves, you should see their faces when I forget to shave at the onsen.

kuri, ping, the pinglet, & mini-ping said...

You ARE hot now!!! What a beautiful dress. You look(ed) and LOOK! great! :)

L. said...

Catching up here... there`s NOTHING wrong with your legs (says another juicy-calved white girl). You look lovely!

My brother-in-law is getting married in Kyushu in July, and I am plotting ways to avoid going.