At 68, My Daughter Told Me to Cover Up at Her Pool Party—Then Her
Husband Removed His Shirt and Exposed a 40-Year Family Secret
PART 1 — THE BLUE SWIMSUIT
At sixty-eight, I had finally stopped apologizing for my body.
It had taken me most of my life.
Three pregnancies.
Two surviving children.
One emergency abdominal surgery.
A hysterectomy years later.
Arthritis in my left knee.
Wrinkles around my eyes.
Loose skin where youth had once been firm.
And a long curved scar that ran across the lower right side of my
stomach.
For decades, I covered it.
Then one spring morning in Richmond, Virginia, I stood in a
department-store fitting room wearing a bright blue swimsuit and decided
I was tired of hiding.
So I bought it.
Three weeks later, my daughter, Natalie, invited the entire family to a
pool party at her house.
Her husband, Aaron Cole, had spent months renovating the backyard.
