Blister in the Sun

If the title of my blog or the picture at the top didn't already give it away, I am a red head! With that comes fair skin and the requirement for constant protection from the sun. After living like this for almost 23 years, one would think I am a pro at lathering on the sunscreen and avoiding sunburns. Unfortunately this isn't so, instead I need at least one yearly reminder that sunburns hurt...a lot. This year the burn came early after I spent 8 or so hours in the sun playing lacrosse. The tricky thing about sunburns is that you don't feel the pain until later in the evening and while you are out in the sun getting the burn.

In August I decided to see how strange of a sunburn I could manage to get. Every year Tribal West runs a summer camp and I have always been assigned to line/paint the fields (not just one but three!). This task generally takes anywhere from 4-6 hours if you are doing it correctly. Since August is generally hot I decided to wear shorts and a tee-shirt with a pair of TOMS but forgot about the water and sunscreen. Part of lining the field is bending over and to spray a few lines by hand which lead to the first random sunburn line...right above the top of my shorts on my back. Alright so that isn't that weird but for a mormon girl who doesn't wear two pieces and keeping that portion of my back hidden from the sun; it's an unusual place to burn. The next area which I don't quite understand, is the skin from my ankles to the bottom of my calves...remember I was wearing shorts and a little more than that was showing.

The moral of the story is wear your sunscreen so you don't end up with skin cancer (This is not saying I have been told that I have skin cancer). Also if you wear your sunscreen you will save yourself a lot of pain. Obviously this post is not for those who bronze well but more to those with fair skin or anybody who wants to make fun of my ignorance!