Monday, July 18, 2011

peel me....

i am sloughing my skin like a reptile.  i am not needing a larger exterior to house my insides, but i imagine that i am experiencing the same discomfort a reptile feels when it is time to shed it's skin.  my skin is itchy, scaly, and bumpy in places.  i love when a large piece peels off.  do reptiles get that same gratification?  i will be glad when the process is done as i am sure a reptile does.

i disbanded a myth about 3 weeks ago.  it IS possible to burn... in morning sun... in western washington.  from 7am to 11am my stomach and chest (the parts that weren't covered by my bikini top) turned a beautiful shade of fluorescent angry pink.  no i was not protected by sunscreen.  i should have been, but i was so wrapped up in my book and coffee it completely slipped my mind.

saturday morning.  coffee is brewing and i notice that there is this giant orb glowing in the sky.  i step outside feel the warmth on my skin and quickly decide that i will be sipping my coffee on my back patio.  after tracking down the lawn chairs, grabbing my book (the shack), doctoring up my coffee, donning my ball cap, i position myself for full sun exposure.  about halfway through my first cup of jo i realize that it is really warm and i might be able to handle sitting out in my bikini...gulp.

OK for those of you who know me well the hesitation about a swim suit no surprise, but for the rest of you...i despise being in a swim suit.  one piece, bikini, tankini, i think there might even be a unikini...i despise them all.  a one piece is never quite long enough in the torso and i feel like i have to be hunched over to be comfortable.  a bikini...well they are tiny, enough said.  tankini...the bottom of the top doesn't seem to quite meet the top of the bottoms and then i am sharing my flesh belt with whomever i am with.  unikini haven't ever tried one, but the tan line you get seems rather strange.

i don't mind my figure.  for my age and my lack of activity it is just fine, but i feel very, very exposed in a suit.  i simply don't enjoy showing off that much to skin the general public.  i am kind of a "covered up" kind of girl.  but i was just going to be in my backyard, not a public beach, so off to put on my suit.  i did a quick once over in the mirror and again it isn't too bad.  back to my chair, book and coffee.

well a half a pot of coffee later, finishing the shack and starting have a little faith,  a few trips to the bathroom because sometimes coffee just goes right through me, i am done soaking up my vitamin d and ready to start my day.  i did look at myself in the mirror before showering and i noticed i was a bit pink, but it didn't look too bad.  i figured i would be a beautiful bronze by morning.  boy was i wrong!

as the day progressed my skin became angrier and angrier.  by the next morning i knew i was screwed.  on my drive up to bellingham for the 4th of july celebrations, i had to undo my pants because they were rubbing so much on my tummy it was seriously uncomfortable.  since it was just my stomach and chest, i was able to hide my stupidity.  i thought that maybe i was in clear because i didn't start peeling until this past week. 

i have learned my lesson.  i heather marie bartlett vow to wear sunscreen...even in the morning...even in western washington.

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