Hot Mess

Little Red Baby Butch

I remember that day. Hanging out at the beach for hours on end, getting my skin to match the color of my shirt. Swollen eyelids, blisters on the top of my feet, pimples gone, teeth white as can be (in contrast to my bright red face) - damn I looked good! Or so I thought. "Oh look at me! I'm so burned that I woke up with my eyelids stuck shut. How cool is that?"

Of all the stupid shit I did in my teens and twenties, the biggest regret I have is spending so much time in the sun with no sunscreen or a sunscreen with an spf of 4 or lower. All my friends did it. We thought it looked hot to go from pasty white to butterball brown with a week or two of flaming red and peeling skin thrown in between.

I went to the dermatologist a few weeks back. They love to dig things out of you don't they? To date most of the things I have had checked have been normal. But they leave behind a nice reminder to always use sunblock. I now wear a hat while sitting out by the pool and I only skinny dip at night, which not only saves my skin but the eyesight of the neighbors as well.

That's a shoulder not a nipple.

Comments

Taradharma said…
oh Christ, we used to slather up with baby oil and lie on southern California beaches!! Burn baby, burn! I was 'lucky' enough to tan instead of burn (most times) but now in my early 50s I am a devotee of spf 50.

Ya look like a pistol in that photo! :-)
C.I.W. said…
oh man-- this is the 4th time I have heard this in a month. i have taken it as a sign and I called my dermatologist.

The sun-- pretty-- and EVIL.
Anonymous said…
That's right baby oil with some iodine(?) in it then making sure I would flip myself every 30 minutes. Dumb stuff I use to do.

I think a nipple on your shoulder would be pretty cool.
LilliGirl said…
Don't listen to Jude. No nipples on shoulders please. Ever.

I knew I burned and I wore sunscreen but more that once I ended up with blisters the size of shoulderpads in the 80's that my grandmother insisted in "popping" with a needle. No fun at all. None. I've been checked and have a couple pre-cancerous spots but no biggie.

My grandfather had skin cancer. My Dad's gotten it and having their skin I am most likely next. (No really. We are the only pink freckled people in the fam)

Just do what you gotta do and move on. You will be fine. We are all banking on it. :)
LilliGirl said…
oh, and yeah...you are a cutie in that pic. :)
Tara you must have been able to have a nice tan all year round! We had to get all our tanning done May - August. We were pasty white the other months.

I feel better CIW now that I started going to the dermatologist once a year. You just hear so much about the damaging effects of the sun now. No one talked about it much in the 80's - unfortunately.

I remember that Jude - the iodine in the baby oil! I don't think I ever did that but I think my friends did. Oh what were we thinking? LOL about the nipple comment.

Ouch Lilli! Those blisters must have been a real bitch to deal with. I'm glad you make the effort to get checked - it's so important. Thanks for the nice comment - blushing, and not from a sunburn. :)
KMae said…
babyoil & iodine here, too.
How CUTE that pic of you is!!!
Anonymous said…
Hot Mess! That made me laugh. One of my kindergartners asked me if his hair "looked a hot mess" the other day. I almost peed.

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