A letter from a reader

At 63, I had become the one who watches the pool from the chair

I have never written anything like this before, and I want to say at the start that I am not a writer and I am not in the habit of telling other women what to wear.

But three different women asked me about my swimsuit at the pool two weekends ago, and I have now explained it enough times that it seemed easier to write it down properly.

It started years ago, quietly. One summer I bought a kaftan to wear over my swimsuit, and the next summer I just wore the kaftan and did not bother with the swimsuit at all.

I had become the one who watches from the chair.

My grandchildren in the water, calling for me to come in, and me in a cover-up on a lounger saying maybe later, every single time.

I did not decide that. Nobody decides to stop swimming. It happens one skipped summer at a time, until getting in feels like more than you can face.

How it happens

It is the swimsuits. You go looking, and what you find is either something cut for a twenty-five-year-old, or a swimsuit the shape and color of a trash bag that somehow makes you feel worse than the twenty-five-year-old's did.

So you buy the dark one, and you wear it under a cover-up, and the cover-up stays on. And after a few summers of that you stop buying swimsuits at all, because what is the point.

What I had wrong

Here is the bit I got most wrong. I thought coverage had to mean a shapeless dark tent, and that the only alternative was showing more than I wanted to.

It turns out there is a third thing, and it is called a swimdress. It is a real swimsuit with a soft skirt built right onto it, so the tops of your legs and the middle are covered, the straps are wide enough to hold you properly, and the whole thing is a pretty print instead of funeral navy. Covered and comfortable and actually nice to look at, all at once.

That was the thing I did not know existed, and it took me until 63 to find it.

It is called the Olivia

It is from Iris & Nora, a little boutique here in Austin that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now.

It is called the Olivia. A swimdress in a soft white floral, with a scoop neck, wide comfortable straps, and a flowy skirt that falls to the middle of the thigh. It comes in a green as well, which I will come back to.

The skirt is the whole thing. It skims over the middle and covers the tops of the legs, so there is nothing to tug at and nothing to hide. Underneath, the swimsuit part holds you in gently and the wide straps mean no digging and no slipping. And the floral is genuinely pretty, which after years of navy felt like a small act of rebellion.

It is a swimsuit you can walk to the pool in and stand around in and, most importantly, get into the water in.

What happened at the pool

I wore it to my daughter's pool on Saturday. And I got in.

Three women asked me where it was from. Three. One of them was Sue, who I have known for forty years and who has never once commented on anything I have worn.

What she actually said was that she had not seen me swim in years. I have decided to take that as the compliment of the summer.

What I noticed more than the compliments, though, was my grandson's face when I came down the steps into the water. He was so pleased. We stayed in until we were both wrinkled.

The next morning I wore it under a sundress and we went to the lake, and I got in there too.

Three things I have learned since

One. The skirt changes everything. It is the difference between hiding under a cover-up and actually getting in. Coverage where you want it is what gives you the nerve.

Two. Wide straps matter. Thin straps dig and slip and leave you adjusting all day. Wide ones just hold you, and you forget about them.

Three. A pretty print is not frivolous. Feeling nice in it is the whole reason it comes off the hanger. The navy tent never once did.

About the price

I want to be straightforward about this, because it was the thing that made me suspicious.

The Olivia is $47.95. It was $94.00.

My first thought, honestly, was that there had to be a catch, because a good swimsuit that actually covers you usually costs a great deal more than that.

There is no catch that I have found. They are a small boutique selling directly, so there is no department store taking a cut in the middle, and they run a summer sale to move the season's stock before it turns.

I did what I imagine you are doing now and went and read the reviews before I ordered. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars. Not the suspiciously perfect five you see on some sites, which if I am honest made me trust it more. Real people, mixed opinions, mostly very good.

Then I ordered the green one as well, so there is a dry one in the bag.

What I would tell you if we were friends

If you and I were sitting out on the porch with a glass of iced tea and you asked me, this is what I would say.

If you have become the one in the cover-up who watches from the chair, it is not that you have stopped wanting to swim. It is that nobody sold you a swimsuit you felt all right getting in. That is a fixable thing.

The summers where you can still go in the water with your grandchildren are not unlimited. I would not spend another one dry on a lounger, and I would not want you to either.

Two practical things. The sale is on now, and swim sizes go quickly. And they make it right up through the plus sizes, in real shapes for real bodies.

I got back in the water this summer, and I am not getting out.

Peggy