Finding photos of us in bathing suits is not difficult – we lived in them during the summer. 
If we weren’t at the beach, we were at the YMCA pool or playing on the Slip ‘n Slide in the back yard. Florida summers without air-conditioning meant kids spent as much time as possible in the water.
This photo isn’t celebrating new bathing suits, but rather new “high heels”. These were a first – thanks to Grandma – and we were very proud of them.
In the portrait below – and an almost identical one of my sister – we are wearing bathing suits. While that may seem odd for a formal portrait, the promise of a trip to the beach after each sitting was the only thing that made these portraits possible. Oh, and the one hand on the hip pose seems to show up frequently in our bathing suit photos. I’m not sure what’s up with that.
Portrait of the author painted by Carl Austen about 1956.
