When I was in my 20's I used to loooove going to the store to pick out my "summer bikini". It was the culmination of all my hard work throughout winter and spring to keep in shape, eat right, and watch my figure. Putting on that new bikini was my chance to show off all my hard work (and my assets) and turn a few heads at the beach. I felt so sexy!

That all changed after my first baby was born. She was a beautiful little girl, a little on the small side, but enough to leave a clear message on my body - "This woman has kids!!!!" a.k.a. stretch marks.

I was crushed the first day I looked in the mirror. Now, no matter how hard I worked and how much I watched my figure, I couldn't show off my figure anymore. I wanted to turn heads, but in awe at my beauty, not disgust at my awful stretch marks.

I remember the first summer after she was born. My girls all stopped by to pick me up and go shopping for my "summer bikini" and here I am, laying on the couch watching Dr. Phil and eating a tub of ice cream! I was crushed! I had spent so much time every year waiting for this moment, this day when I got to be super sexy...and now it was all gone. Talk about depression! I was ready to sign up for Dr. Phil's show and tell the world my sob story.

Then Jenna, my best friend, comes in and says: "What in the world are you DOING? Don't you know what today is? Get UP, get DRESSED, and LET"S GO!!!! We've got a bikini to buy!"

I sighed and explained I wasn't going. I wasn't pretty anymore and I wasn't going to the mall where every woman could gawk at my stretch marks. "Screw that!" I told her.

Instead of freaking out, she just came over and sat down next to me. "Lacie, I think it's time I told you something I've never shared with anyone. You're not the only one on this couch that has had stretch marks. I've dealt with them too."

Talk about a bombshell!

"I...I...don't believe you." I finally said. "You're beautiful! Look at you!"

"I wasn't always beautiful though," she said. "Last winter, I got really down and I started eating a lot more than I should have and before you know it, I was twenty-five pounds overweight. I was devastated!"

"How'd you get it off?" I asked.

"A lllllllllloooooooooooooootttttttttttttttt of time in the gym," she laughed. "But that wasn't my biggest problem. My biggest problem was that sudden weight loss left me with stretch marks all over my tummy. It felt like I jumped from the frying pan into the fire, as the old saying goes."

"I thought I was doomed to a life of solitude and no bikinis. But I was talking to my mom one night and she started telling me about these bikinis she found online and I'm thinking 'Mom, in a bikini? No way!'. So I called her on it and she just laughs and says, 'I thought I told you baby...Gayle (you know the knitting lady from down the street?) told me about this cream that she swears works wonders for her and I told her to stop lying and she said 'No, it's true!' so I decided to try it out and sure enough honey, it worked like a charm!"

"Well where'd she get it?" I asked.

"Hold your horses! Geez! I was about to tell you, I just wanted to take a breath!" Jenna said. Then she continued, "Mom told me to check out this website. She said this girl had a list of all the top creams and let other people vote on them too, so you could see what everyone likes."

"She said she picked the top cream and she was so impressed with the results, she ordered a bottle for me and my sister as Christmas presents. Talk about a happy daughter! I couldn't thank Mom enough!"

"So it worked?" I asked, still skeptical.

"You tell me!" she replied. "Do you see any stretch marks?"

I had to admit that she was right...I couldn't see any.

"Okay, you win," I told her, "but why didn't you ever tell me this before? I thought we were best friends?"

She explained that she didn't like to tell people (even me), because she liked the fact that everyone thought she was just naturally beautiful and she was scared that people might look at her differently if they knew she had had stretch marks in the past.

"So you're going with us, right?" she said as she stood up and took the ice cream away.

"Not a chance in hell!" I replied with a laugh, but I am going to order some of that cream and then I'm gonna kick your butt for not telling me about this sooner!"

Now, here I am just a few short months later, standing in the dressing room admiring myself in the mirror. I've got the perfect bikini picked out and I know that this year will be another year for me to turn heads and make the girls jealous.

It's great!!!

Toodles,

Stephanie