All Around the World

 I try not to brag, to acknowledge my good fortune, and to remember many deserving people have not been so lucky. So I didn’t talk up a recent winter getaway to a warm weather paradise, which had such fine, fine people-watching that I have to share some observations.

From the way people were dressed and groomed, I guessed a good ninety percent would be considered quite well-to-do if not wealthy. The resort’s guests were overwhelmingly white, at least a third over sixty. They were couples and families, including a few extended families, but no visible friends, siblings, or colleagues vacationing there.

Here’s some of what I saw.

Money does not make you a good parent. I was shocked at the number of people unable to control their kids while they did things that were obnoxious (throwing sand at each other and whoever was in range, tossing a football way too near other people, dumping sand on the towels of strangers who were currently in the water, tantrums when they didn’t get what they wanted immediately) or unsafe (playing unsupervised in the surf, climbing on rocks surrounding a koi pool, teasing the parrots). Parents issued orders, but kids who did not obey faced zero consequences, not even a five-minute time-out in their chair. Do they have nannies or other child care at home? I hope so.

Fabulous, flattering, and inventive swimwear is easy when you’re slender and increasingly difficult as you size up. Larger women I saw nicely dressed at breakfast, during cocktails, or dinner restaurants wore swimsuits that looked awful, didn’t fit, failed to support—and at least two exposed body parts that should be fully private. Clearly finding a decent suit goes beyond being able to afford it.

On the flipside, though, I saw big women in bold choices, imperfect parts fully exposed without shame. Bellies with surgical scars that left them misshapen. Lumpy butts tanned in thong swimsuit bottoms. Two-piece suits not attempting to hide sags and folds of excess woman and/or excess years. There’s a lesson: Want to have a beach body? Get yourself a swimsuit that fits and take your body to a beach. There, you’ve done it!