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During a few nice days in February, I got a bout of spring fever and decided to pull out and wash all my bathing suits to get them ready for the upcoming season!

Now, February I do realize, is a bit early for swimsuits, but ya gotta understand that I do still feel kinda jipped out of a summer last year. With my mid-May heart surgery, that healing vertical six-inch incision kept me from swimming and soaking up the sun all summer.

So yes, I am ready!

So ready, that while I was shopping for my sweetheart’s valentine at  Target, my eye caught a super cute two-piece lavender suit that I went ahead and splurged on!

Why not, right!?

All was just fine and dandy until….

I happen to run across a link, via facebook I think it was, entitled:

“47-year-old Kelly Ripa shamed for bikini photo.”

Well that sure grabbed my attention as Miss Ripa and I share the  camaraderie of being in that “forty-something” age category… specifically the forty-seventh!

 

So what’s the wide-world of social media saying, exactly??!

That if you’re forty-seven you can’t sport a bikini anymore??!!!

As crazy as it was, and for only a split-second mind you, I allowed social media to warp my mind into thinking that maybe I was “old” now, and should start considering shopping for (as my mother used to call them) a “Henrietta Hippo suit…”

Uh…

NOT!!!!

What?! Was I flippin’ crazy?!

I quickly clicked on the link.

Apparently, while on vacation, Mark Consuelos, husband of actress, dancer, television producer and talk show host, Kelly Ripa, posted a bikini shot on Instagram of his wife suited up in a two-piece gold string bikini and sunhat.

I looked at this photo.

No butt cheeks were hanging out,

No boobs spilling over the top,

Everything was covered, and actually, I thought it was a rather classy bikini snap.

All that was visible, was Miss Ripa’s fine-tuned physique that, undoubtedly, she works hard to achieve.

What’s that term the “young” people use now-a-days??

“Haters?”

 

The post attracted many comments pertaining to an “age cut-off” for sporting a bikini and “at her age, shouldn’t she be trying to cover up more?”

This is true in a lot of circumstances, but…. if you’ve got it… why not (tastefully) flaunt it?? And I believe Miss Ripa does just that.

Captioning his wife’s Instagram photo, Mr. Consuelos’ wrote,

“Sultry Sundays with the sexy one are my fave…”

I think his post was nothing less than wonderfully sweet.

He’s proud of the love of his life and has no problem showing her off.

How does it go? Let me see if I can remember the lingo… Is it,

“Haters keep on hating?”

If nothing else, Miss Ripa is a poster child for us “forty-somethings,” that a body like hers can be achievable with exercise and a healthy diet.

What’s wrong with that?

Now, I by no means, have the bod of Miss Ripa, but ya know what??

The bikinis ain’t goin’ anywhere!

You keep rockin’ it Kelly Ripa! And I will too!!!

 

I maybe flat chested, have an embossed mark in my middle, and now sport a six-inch vertical line down the center of my chest, but that’s not gonna stop me!!

If ya happen to see me out on the beach, or by the pool, and ya don’t like it, simply look the other way!

Personally, I’ve seen worse things grocery shopping at Walmart…

Bikinis forever!

(or at least until the bod no longer agrees with ‘em!)