I had to shop for a dress last weekend. We were to attend a wedding, and I actually only had one dress in my closet and it wasn&8217;t appropriate for summer.

I am issuing a warning: If you&8217;re young and reading this column, you absolutely will not understand my wacky thinking. If you are a guy and reading this column, you just will not get it. If you are my age reading this column maybe you will understand.

I usually love to shop. This time it was so frustrating. I could not a find a dress. Have you seen the fashions in the stores these days?

The stores have rows and rows of skirts and dresses for the young and cute. There were racks and racks of sundresses no matter where I shopped. Clingy, soft fabric dresses and dresses with spaghetti straps and flouncy bottoms. Then there were the skirts made out of soft fabric that also cling to the body.

I could have visited the suit section, but I am not really a suit person. I just wanted a nice flowing dress. I visited store after store. The He Person in my life tagged along to point out dresses that he thought would be my ideal choice. He might be my ideal choice, but his choice of dresses was not my ideal.

The dress had to have short sleeves to hide my flabby, flabby arms. It had to have some shape that did not cling so it would hide the potbelly and flowing flab that ripples like the waves. Dress after dress hit the dressing room floor. I remarked that I hated the new fashion look and that was the reason I could not find just one, just one, dress.

I lied. I lied to myself and to him. I am an old woman trapped in my body. I love the cute fashions that are in the stores. They were what I would wear if I were young and fun again. They are what I would wear if my body were tiny and trim. I had to face the truth. I do not like the fashions for my age. They are fashionable and tasteful. I do not have a fashionable and tasteful bone in my body!

It occurred to me that there were a couple of reasons that I could not find a dress. One of the reasons was the fact that I can&8217;t accept the way I think I look in a dress. The rolls and flab are there. Forget girdles. You know what I think of them. The other reason is that my mind has not caught up with my body. I want to wear all those cute, young fashions. I do not like most of the fashionable and tasteful fashions that are made for women my age. I can&8217;t help it.

Do any of you feel like that?

If someone my age wears one of those cute, young fashions, then they are ridiculed because they need to act and dress their age. They are not accepting that they are getting older. They are talked about.

I have given a little thought to this. If someone my age can wear those cute and young fashions, more power to them. Go for it. Maybe you don&8217;t have the rolls and flab that I do. Wear your taste. What does it matter? Oh, maybe for a job interview you should cool it until you have the job.

If you are my age and you love the fashions that are made for people my age, I am so happy for you. You are content in yourself. That is absolutely great. We all have different bodies and different levels of acceptance of who we are.

There is a piece of us that we hide inside of ourselves and never let anyone see. It might be young tastes in an old body. It might be uneasiness about who we are in our own skin, flab and rolls and wrinkles and all. We do have to find a way to live with those pieces that are inside of ourselves. Find your way, be content and like who you are, flab and all, in anyway that you want to do it. Acceptance is hard but contentment follows.

Oh, and I did buy a cute, young polka-dot-and-striped top that I fell in love with. It is my secret housecleaning top. It might even make me feel like dancing while I am cleaning.

Don&8217;t tell anyone.

Wells resident Julie Seedorf&8217;s column appears every Monday.

E-mail her at somethingaboutnothing@mchsi.com.