Feeling small

Warning: I realize that complaining about finding clothes that fit for a person my size may come across as annoying, sort of like that friend who says, "Oh, I just have to binge on pizza and cheesecake once a week or I fall below my healthy weight!" But I'm finding clothes shopping more frustrating than it ought to be, so I'm going to indulge in some complaining based purely on my own experience, and if this sounds fatuous, it is not my intent. You have been warned.So what's up with "size inflation" and what are us smaller folks supposed to do when we fall off the end of the size chart?This is not a new problem for me. I remember being in junior high and being excited to wear "grown-up" clothes in the juniors' section. I reached my current height of 5'3" and current shoe size of around 5 1/2-6 1/2 about age 12-13. I don't know how much I weighed then but I had a trim teenage figure. My guess is I weighed no more than 100 pounds. Finding clothes was a royal pain, as it probably is for any girl that age, complicated by the fact that I had sprouted hips and children's pants didn't allow for this, but I tended to fall off the bottom of the juniors size chart. So every time I went up a size in anything, I rejoiced. "Yay! I can now wear real big people clothes!" When being fitted for my first formal dress while in high school, I remember the salesperson saying that I wasn't even really a size 2. I had my junior size 3/4 prom dress (the smallest size they had at the time--now due to size inflation you can find a size 1/2) taken in at the waist.I was tired of having trouble finding clothes. I could hardly wait to get bigger, so didn't pay much attention as I started putting on weight. I'm lucky that because of my small frame, I can pack on quite a few additional pounds and still wear relatively small sizes and manage to look somewhat trim in loose clothing. But as I've gotten older, I found that carrying the extra weight was affecting my health.So fast-forward to 2010. I've dieted successfully, mainly to help a knee problem, after being about 10-20 pounds above my ideal weight for most of my adult life. My blood pressure, which had gotten borderline high, is now great, which my doctor attributes to losing weight around my waist. She says my weight range should be between 105-118. I'm currently about 110, which according to a body fat analysis thing I had done where they put you in a pod and bounce sound waves off you, I'm at about 23% fat. This is a pretty good place to be. If I wanted the trim athletic figure I had in high school and most of college, I'd have to lose more weight, but I think I'm in a pretty good place for my age. I am most decidedly NOT underweight even though I had to get a doctor's note saying my ideal weight range was lower than what Weight Watchers says I should be with their one-size-fits-all chart. (Weight Watchers is an excellent organization, by the way. This is my only gripe.)So I'm leaner and more healthy, and should be rewarded by the fashion industry, who everybody knows caters to skeletal women, right?Wrong.I went to Macy's yesterday hoping to find the Dockers khaki pants that are now huge on me in a smaller size. The size 4 is too big. They don't even carry a size 2, though I bet they make one and I could find it on the web. Last month I went to The Limited to find some basic dressy pants, and found I wear a size 0 short in the "curvy fit." Now that's just crazy. If I'm a size 0 now, what on earth would a teenage girl like I was at that age wear? Ok, so there are stores that maybe cater more to younger women and have smaller sizes, but I've found that most of them don't have styles appropriate for my age and if I do find pants that fit my hips they are enormous in the waist. I need something that can accommodate some hips, but apparently nobody believes that if you're a size 0-2 you need a "curvy fit." Yes, folks, I'm shaped just like a grown-up woman, only in miniature! Imagine that. You'd think from the clothes I see in stores, I'm some sort of exotic pygmy.After the trip to Macy's, I decided to look for shoes. I've reluctantly had to swear off flip-flops because of my knees, and thought I'd go to a local place that sells Birkenstocks to see if I can live with something slightly more clunky. I can't imagine going through a whole summer with socks and closed shoes. Now, I've never worn Birks before but am aware that they run large, which is why I wanted to try some on in the store to find my size before considering ordering off the internet. In most European shoes I've tried I wear a 35-36. The smallest adult size in Birkenstocks is 35. That seemed a little big, so I actually had the guy bring out some size 34. Yep--kids' shoes! They were pretty cute, in bright primary colors with lots of straps. I would have loved them when I was 8. The length was perfect, but they were a teeny bit narrow. Then I found out that these were the narrow width, so a 34 regular would fit. I placed an order in a style that was a little less juvenile. The good thing is that the kids' shoes are less expensive than the adult ones! But that's the first time since I was probably in 5th grade I've worn a kids' size. What does Birkenstock think their target audience is? Sasquatch and his family?I can understand the rationale for size inflation. People on average are getting bigger but like to feel they can still fit into a size they used to wear. But honestly, when you have to make a size 00 or XXS to accommodate people who used to be a 2 or XS, what is next? XXXXXXXXS?I can identify with the Whos in Who-ville when Horton encourages them to all shout so that the others will believe they are real:"We are here!"Of course the moral of Horton Hears a Who is: "...after all,A person’s a person, no matter how small.”So I'm here, I'm small, and...hello? Can anybody hear me way down here?