So long old clothes!

This past Sunday, I donated most of my old clothes. I say most because I am planning to take some to consignment and I kept one of my biggest pairs of pants.  A size 26.  I'm saving it for the ubiquitous I-can-fit-in-one-leg-of-of-my-fat-pants photo that I plan to take one day.  In a way, it was pretty anticlimactic.  We pulled up to our local Goodwill Donation Express, and 2 minutes later we drove away without a box and 2 large garbage bags filled with my plus sized past.  

I expected to feel more.  I expected to feel attached to these old clothes.  Many of them were 5 years old or more.  But in the end, I'm way more excited about the clothes that are still in my closet.  Many of them with tags on them.  The clothes I bought for a someday that never seemed to come.  The Pebble Beach shirt my husband bought for me in 2010 in an XL which was the largest size they had.  The Brad Paisley concert t-shirt (also a size XL) that I have never worn. The Disney shirts that fit (barely) before shrinking in the wash.  Of course now I have to go shopping for new work clothes because I seem to not have any.

I also did something crazy last Monday night.  My size 18 pants have been fitting so well and I had a little time, so I stopped at Lane Bryant and grabbed a pair of size 16 trousers and headed into a changing room. I stared at them for a moment.  It's actually strange how my view of sizing feels off.  When I looked at my old 26s as I was boxing them up they didn't look that big.  But when I looked at that pair of 16s, I started thinking how stupid this was.  They looked so tiny!  How in the world were they going to fit over my enormous tush.  There's no way.  But I took a breath and I stepped in and started to pull them up.  Up over my thighs, my tush, and my hips.  All the way up.  And then I buttoned them, and zipped them up.  And they were on.  And I could breathe.  I just stood there and stared in the mirror.  A size 16.  Now, they were pretty snug.  I wouldn't want to wear them to work right away.  Maybe in another 5-10 pounds.  And I know they were from Lane Bryant's curvy collection, and they tend to be a little generous with the sizing.  But still.  I could button and zip a size 16.  I got a huge grin on my face.  And if those pants hadn't been $60, I would have bought them just to have them.  Instead, I hung them back up and dashed out to my car to go finish my errands.  

Maybe by the time I get to Onederland a regular 16 will fit.  *fingers crossed*

**Note** On Monday, I plan to share my current favorite Paleo recipe.  But for now, I have to go research how to properly do that on a blog without violating copyright or making another blogger mad at me.