I went to the beach yesterday with some friends after our work meeting yesterday. Five of us girls, from 24 to 43 (me). An interesting thing, my BF told me later he overheard one of the 20 somethings commenting on how fat one of the 30 somethings looked in her swimsuit. Now, yes, she may have a bit of a belly, and is working on it, but none of us is what anyone would call fat.
On the contrary, I remember seeing my two 30 something friends with a little jiggle here or there and felt comforted in the fact that we as women, and especially as we get older, or have children, do not in fact look like supermodels, nor should we berate ourselves or each other for not looking like one! In fact, as waitresses, all of us run around a lot every day and lead fairly physical lives. (as an aside, the older girls rode their bikes to the beach, the young ones drove there)
I also remembered how my own body looked in my early 20's vs. now in my early 40's. I can't help but think this catty young gal has some changes in store she can't imagine at this point in her life lol. So, my take was, "yay, we are all just human after all!", while hers was a negative view. We were both looking at the same bodies, but from our different perspectives.
So, I wonder if this is a question of maturity and comfort in growing into one's own skin, or is it more a question of one's character and general personality?