This weekend the girls all came over for a sleepover. My sister had her friend over, and with Kat, Maddie, and Allie we had a full house. Saturday evening we were all laying around the pool, and Mom came out to get suggestions for dinner. We were all laying in our lounge chairs wearing our favorite attire…just our sunglasses. We were all laying on our backs facing Mom, and Allie asked Mom to join us for a dip in the pool. Mom smiled and said she might join us after dinner, but for now she wanted to talk about our food options. Dad was going to grill and Mom wanted to know which side dishes to fix. Because of a few well-placed bushes you really can’t see the grill area from the pool, and Dad has grilled out there a few times with us swimming. But the pool area is private enough that no one seemed to mind.
So while we were talking I heard the back door open and Mom looked over her shoulder as Dad walked out to get things ready at the grill. Mom looked at me with a mischievous grin and then called Dad over to us. Then I looked over to see Maddie and Allie roll over on their bellies, and they also each had a grin on their face. Kat and I just stayed as we were, laying on our backs. Dad came walking up to the pool and said, “Hello Ladies”. Mom told him that we all had decided on burgers and seasoned potato wedges with mac and cheese. Dad assured us that he would fix us up with his now famous cheese burgers, and while my parents were chatting it up I couldn’t help but smile as I noticed none of my friends tried to cover up at all. Maddie and Allie were lying there with their beautiful tanned backsides exposed to my parents…exposed to my Father, and they didn’t seem to mind at all. I couldn’t help but think how self-conscience they were about their bodies just a few weeks ago. And it made me happy knowing that they felt comfortable enough to be able to do that with all of us.
As Mom and Dad started to walk away, Mom said that she would let us know when dinner was ready. As she walked past my chair she gave me a thumbs up sign, and I returned the favor. We all just chilled out until dinner was ready. No one said a word about the conversation. Like it was no big deal. Then Mom called out from the back door, and we all got up and started to walk away from the pool. Maddie started wrapping her towel around her and Allie did the same. A little wave of disappointment came over me, but I guess we still made progress today. As we all walked into the back door I just told myself what Mom always says…baby steps.