Kat and I are looking for support. We are not alone. We know many women who are looking in vain for good support. It�s amazing what a woman has to go through to find any support, let alone good support. Today�s issue, of course, is brassieres.

When I was eighteen years old or so, my grandma, a woman whose support issues mirrored my own, took me to see Lulu. Lulu was a corsetiere extraordinaire�if you could ignore the figure commentary that went with her genius. Lulu could do wonders but watching her work was not for the meek, the squeamish, or girls with poor self-images. Lulu was a character�which is a polite way of saying she was earthy and blunt. When I complained that every time I found a reasonably comfortable bra, the manufacturer discontinued it, Lulu didn�t sugarcoat the situation. She looked me up and down (mainly up) and intoned, �That�s because nobody is built like that.� Thank you, Lulu.

As a result of this early trauma to my ego, I thought for years that the constant search for support was only my campaign. I�d see ads that spoke of crossing one�s heart or other such innovations that should have clued me in to the more universal aspects of the quest but I dismissed it as more �new and improved� advertising. I dismissed it as business trying to create dissatisfaction to create more sales. As I became older and more earthy myself (thank you again, Lulu), I started talking with other �generously endowed� women. I learned that others were treading parallel paths with as few results. But my vision was still limited; I couldn�t see past the mountains.

Then Kat came along. Kat is not my daughter in physical build. She�s clearly a member of her dad�s family. Finding her support should be easy�but it�s not. We found her ideal bra a few weeks ago and after several weeks of looking, I only have two additional ones. I had to try three places on the Internet that showed they had it but told me it was out-of-stock before paying an arm and a leg for some additional ones.

That�s when I knew. Good support is hard to come by, not just for women like me, but for many, many others.

|