Lesson from the weekend

I am no longer 18. What I mean by that is...I can no longer be in the sun without sunscreen. When I was young, I could get and keep a tan in a heartbeat. Burn? Who me? What's that? I grew up in Jackson, MS in the late 70's, early 80's and moved to Birmingham, AL in 1984. What I'm saying is...I'm used to hot sun and humid air. To prepare for summer back then, I would grab the Crisco Oil or Baby Oil, a blanket, a boom box and climb on the roof. I would cover myself in oil and relax for hours. Yes, hours. And I would turn a nice golden brown. Every time. By the end of summer, I looked Native American, even though I barely have a drop of that in me.

This weekend I had a couple of hours that I didn't have something to do, somewhere to be or someone to take care of. So I went to Mom's to get some sun. I spent 2 hours in the water. One on each side. I used sunscreen on the front...OK, it was only a 4 SPF, but that's better than what I ususally do. On the front I got a little pink. Not bad, just a little color. But the back. Well, I was alone, so I didn't have an assistant. And I don't really have all my range of motion back in my arms. Who am I trying to kid? I just plain didn't put any sunscreen on my back. At all. And then I fell asleep, face down in on the float. The only thing that woke me up was breathing in a little water when my face slipped on the float. All the skin on the backside that was showing was red. Not just pink. Red.

Today, the red is fading and turning brown, like I was hoping. By next weekend, I'm hoping that I will remember my lessons...

Good advice...

“If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye and say, ‘I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.’” - Ann Landers

“Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music – the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.” - Henry Miller

“Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.” - Cherie Carter-Smith