Why So Complicated?

As I have a teenage girl in the house, I have spent some concentrated, deliberate time talking with her about such topics as size of clothes. In short, my aim is to help her understand that fit, not size, is what matters. As she has gotten deeper into the teen years, this topic has been challenged because, let's face it, it matters more than it should in high school. That she has ever spent any mental energy on this topic has taken me by surprise a time or two given she is fit as a fiddle, but, people are people, so she unfortunately has to go through her own growing pains. I'm here to help as much as she'll allow.

The clothing industry does not help this issue seeing as sizes aren't universal. I will never understand why one company's 10 is another's 14, but I'm 46 and don't give a *#&$ anymore. I just want what fits. But, try convincing a teen that numbers don't matter.

But, given some recent race shirt related incidents, I think she now believes me.

The first dent made into Mom Credibility was at GO! St. Louis when I ordered her race shirt a size larger than her normal, daily wear. To say she was put out by that was an understatement, but I told her to chill and trust me; race shirts tend to run small. Cutting to the chase, she traded the shirt I ordered her at the Expo for a size smaller only to try it on and find out her normal size didn't fit. With a re-trade by her for the larger size and a thank you from me to the shirt lady, we all moved on with a deposit in to the Mom Cred account.

If no one around here believed this is a common problem (and, by no one, I do not mean the males), it was beyond reinforced with the recent Go Girl shirt situation. It went like this:

Register and indicate shirt size. We were told race shirts were tech shirts. For me, that means order a size larger than usual. I'm a usual L, so I ordered XL. I got over that years ago.

Registrants received an email specifically about the shirts. And, I quote: "These shirts DO run a little small so please make sure you check out our sizing chart. Typically if you're at the upper end of your size, we suggest you consider going up a size." There was even a link included allowing you to change your size if you wanted based on this warning, and they'd make sure you got what you want regardless of your registration form request. That's sweet service! Here's the thing, though: For all previous Go Girl years, we've gotten tech shirts. All of them have run small even in the one-size larger.

So, if we're actually being warned this year, I'm totally scared. Who wants to get a shirt that doesn't fit?

Resubmit shirt request: I went forth from the email with an XXL because some tech shirts run that small. XXL also matched my size to the provided measuring chart. I have a few XXLs from races. I love them, and they fit like my normal L. Again, I'm over the size and go for the fit. So, I submitted a request for an XXL.

And, then, I picked it up:

The blue is my normal L. The grey -- which is the XXL race shirt -- would fit Aaron. And, then some.

I put it on long enough to show the kids it was, indeed, as big on me as it looked off of me. It went past my butt with too much room to spare in the middle to be reasonable to wear out and about. I pondered using it as a night shirt and would have had the race peeps not had one to swap with me. But, they did. They had an XL which is the exact same size/amount of material as the L blue shirt above.

I'm not sure why it all has to be so complicated. But, apparently, it does. Bonus for me: It totally demonstrated to my fabulous daughter that mom knows what the hell she's talking about the focus should not be on the size of the tag. So, thank you for contributing to the lesson, Go Girl folks!

Here's what the shirt actually looks like, by the way:

Me like ...

... and, then there's this. It's supposed to say Believe. I can
only see Eleven ... and, even then, that's not really there.

I know this is a topic frustrating to many, so I wanted to share to let you know you're certainly not alone. But, consider channeling your inner Nancy when placing your orders, and focus on what actually matters. I promise you it isn't the letter on the tag ...

I'll check in after the morning run ...!