Sometimes the best clothes are the ones that don't fit

A few months into my weight-loss journey I was told in no uncertain terms that my dear, faithful, never-let-me-down jacket was the fashion-equivalent to an over-sized potato sack. Needless to say, it hasn't improved as the weight has dropped off and I'm now in the market for a new potato sack jacket.

Anyone who's gone jacket shopping at this time of year will know right away that finding a nice jacket is almost impossible. Only a scant handful of the ugliest jackets are leftover on mark-down racks. You know the ones, jackets so hideous that you'd have to be paid to wear them and only then if the money was really really really good. And when you do find a style that isn't so bad, you'll never find it in your size - any gem in a rack of fashion-disasters will invariably be an extra-extra small or an extra-extra big.

But being an extra-big sort of gal, I thought there was at least a slim chance that I'd get lucky. First stop was Winners where I found a relatively nice jacket but only in XL. I tried it on just to see if the style suited me, not expecting to be able to zip it up. But I could zip it up! "It fits!" I whispered to my husband who hissed back, "What do you mean it fits? Of course it fits!" and then gave my bum a smack to illustrate the point. However, just because a jacket fits doesn't mean it looks good on you.

The next store on the trip was Penningtons. As we were driving there, my husband said that it was good to be going there so I could start saying my goodbyes to it. As lovely a compliment as that was, I knew I hadn't quite moved beyond those clothing racks. When we got there, I was glad to see a nice assortment of jackets. But they looked so big. And big they were. 5X....3X...2X...nothing in my size. Heck, 2X a short few months ago would've been my size. On the way out, I pawed through a few other racks of shirts and was dismayed when I couldn't find any Xs. All the shirts that I liked were 2X and above.

I knew then that I'd have to start thinking about moving up, or rather down, to stores that carry smaller sizes. I really would have to start saying goodbye. It was a sobering, slightly scary, but exciting thought.

The next store we tried was the Bay; somewhat closer to a smaller-sized store but for the fact they also carry "woman's" sizes. Again, the typical assortment of cringe-worthy marked-down jackets were crammed into the back of the store. The gems in the collection were...too big. I'd found more potato sacks - extremely classy, perfectly my style and would've fit me last year - but potato sacks nonetheless. I looked like a monk in a voluminous hooded robe.

At this point, I gave up. Aside from that one jacket at Winners, I wasn't able to find a jacket that fit. And you know what? I think I like those jackets the best!