As far as I can tell, there are two kinds of bras: -padded and -un. For years and years, being that I fancied myself some kind of hippie, I went for “un” or “none” on a pretty regular basis, not realizing that my relatively small rack could benefit from a gentle uplift. I thought that padded bras were “false advertising”, as though once one put on a padded bra men would come running from all corners of the globe to bear witness to the glory of one’s bosoms. Then when the bra came off and all that was left were these two little swatty things, they would howl and castrate themselves with disappointment.

three years ago I grew up.

I bought a beautiful Calvin Klein padded job, with thin straps that go well under fancy type shirts. I noticed how much BETTER everything looked in this bra and was converted. However, the padded bras, they are harder to navigate! There’s the Olga, the Warner’s the Victoria’s Secret and of course my old standby Calvin, but I have yet to find one that matches the ultimate majesty of that first push-up. But I soldier on, and have found several boulder-holders that meet my stringent requirements.

As much as I love the lift, there are still some days when padded seems, well, a bit *much*, and I go back to my old hippie ways and rock the no-padding (the days of au naturel are long gone for this old roamer). Today, I thought, was one of those days, and I threw on a comfort bra. Much to my chagrin, I got to work and realized that maybe I needed the lift after all. It’s the morning, my neck hurts, and no coffee yet, which is tough. A lesser woman would be caught in the middle, a little saggy and a little deflated, but NOT ME!! No sir. Anticipating the change of heart, I tossed the original CK push-up into my purse for later use. Another day salvaged by the right choice of bra.