Sometimes it's the little things... or the things that other people might see as little but are actually quite huge for you... that make the difference.

As I've mentioned before, I've been overweight my entire adult life. I was a size 18 by the age of 16.

Unfortunately, at the time I was 16 the internet still wasn't quite advanced enough that people either knew they could... or if they knew they could did not trust ordering things from the internet.

So, when a person wanted to buy clothes, they had to do so in a store... or by Sears mail-order catalogue.

I grew up in a SMALL town. 20,000 people if you include the surrounding areas. My graduating class was the largest my high school had ever seen and I think it was somewhere around 150 people?

Anyway, the point I am getting to is everyone knew each other and there were maybe a dozen different stores in my town that sold women's clothing. A lot of people went to the "big city" 2 hours north of my town to go clothes shopping, but my family was not one of those that made that "luxury" shopping trip... not even once a year... and if so, it was to go to "Costco" or some other grocery chain... not the shopping malls.

So, not only were my style choices limited to about a dozen stores (and the Sears catalogue) but I was even MORE limited by the fact that I was a "plus size". There have been a lot of advances in plus size clothes for teens in the last 10 years but when I was a teen... zilch.

SO... I wore "older" looking clothes. You know, typically "fat lady" clothes. I hated it.

And along with the fact that my clothes were never in style... I never ONCE owned a nice, femine-looking pair of underwear or last of all, a nice bra. If I *could* find a bra that fit me well, it was probably too expensive anyway.

Even after moving to Vancouver for university and having the plethora of shopping malls and stores to choose from and huge department stores... the nice bras still only went as high as 38-D. I think the largest bra I have owned was a 42-DD... There was no chance I'd ever squeeze into a 38... least of all a D.

Now, at least 6 years later there is a much better selection in underwear and bras for larger women, but still somewhat hard to find. I had found this one really great brand called "whimsy" and last year splurged on several of their lacy "pretty" bras to treat myself to undergarments that made me feel feminine.

I started out saying it's sometimes the things that other people might consider small that make the difference... and it's true.

I went bra shopping the other day and could try almost any style from any brand because 38-Ds fit now.

I almost feel like making up for lost time and buying up a half dozen pretty bras... but I'm going to wait and see how my body continues to change as I lose weight.

Three cheers to feeling pretty, even under your clothes.