It is not even summer and already it is hot, hot, hot.
I went to see our local baseball team, The Indianapolis Indians, play a little farm-league
baseball. It was a pretty warm day, with many spectators preferring the cool and shaded concourse of
Victory Field to their seats under the sun. I remained in my seat for the better part of the
afternoon and got some sun on the top of my legs -- the area of flesh between my jean shorts and my knees.
As I applied several coats of Coppertone's "Aloe Aftersun" on my legs, I could not help but remember some of
the wonderful sunburns I have had in the past: my "brown" nose in the sixth grade, the result of a sunburn
that sort of "crusted-over" after spending a weekend in the sun with my parents parking cars during the month of May;
a severe burn on my neck while working a summer job, because I had cut my long hair and the exposed skin burned, peeled,
then burned again -- I tried to put some sunscreen on the new, raw skin but it hurt too much, so I wore my baseball
cap backward with a small towel clipped to the bill of my hat with some snack clips, providing valuable shade for my neck;
and finally, the sunburn on my stomach because I layed out on an innertube in a friend's pool at high
noon and subsequently put some soap on my tummy the next day in a failed attempt to relieve the itch of the drying skin.
I do not recommend this approach, because the drying of the skin was quite painful as the night progressed.
Chicago Tribune columnist June Schmich poignantly stated at the end of a piece that was
erroneously attributed to Kurt Vonnegut:
"...But trust me on the sunscreen."
Have a happy summer and wear some sunscreen
-- or have a supply of aloe handy!