Waisted

Who knew it was possible to get inebriated on a pair of size eighteen black  denim jeans and a white belt  needing a new hole 4 inches behind the last one.

But from the moment I tried these on at 4pm Monday and got them fastened until bedtime at 9pm I was giddy.  It ought to be understandable considering:

• It has been decades since I was comfortable in any waist band that didn't stretch.
• It was 1987 the last time I saw size 18--had topped off at size 24 pushing 26 in 2005. Started the downward trend in 2009 while spending 6 month at Mom's helping with her post stroke and broken hip care.  I reached 22 by 2010 and held steady until early last year when the steady down slope began in early February.
• The T-shirt is Large with no X for first time in decades and it feels roomy.  I'd been wearing 2X since 2009 when I arrived in Longview January 2013.  Needed 1X when I shopped for clothes last October
• I arrived at Mom's in January of 2013 with a 44 inch waist and reached 39 this month.

I refuse to promise to refrain from imbibing this intoxicant.

What do you think?  Can I reach size 16 by the end of summer?

I dropped from a 22 to 18 (except for stretchless waistbands) between January and September last year.  So maybe I could even hope for size 14.