Saturday, July 18, 2009

No I didn't dye myself red, that is a lobster level sunburn.

The other day I sunburned myself. I was such a beautiful shade of red, I could have disguised myself as a lobster. For two days clothing was excruciatingly painful. Forget that, wiggling my nose was excruciatingly painful. Walking was a joy, stiff movements intended to allow as little contact as possible to clothes or other parts of the body. I wasn't burned enough to blister, but I think I was close.


I should know better than to create opportunities for burning, as a teenager I would sometimes burn on the 15 minute walk home from school. I don't know how I thought a couple hours sitting on the beach would be safe. I suppose I arrogantly assumed I would be OK since I had yet to burn this summer and we are on the beach every day. The last few days, I have had ample opportunity to realize I spent most of that time in the shade and late in the afternoon, so had yet to be exposed to direct sunlight: I was reminded every time I had to turn over in the middle of the night from pain on my front to pain on my back.


But the real cruelty came the evening after the burn. We went to see Harry Potter and, true to our impulsive reputation, decided to go to the hottest ticket of the summer the day after it opened and with enough time to get there 5 minutes after the movie was set to start. There were still tickets available, but we were bunched together in the front of the theater. Which meant I had a near five year old on my lap for most of the time.


So I sat through the extra long movie, with highly sunburned legs, wearing jeans, and letting a five year old (who is not exactly light) wiggle all over my lap. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch!! I expected my skin to be rubbed off by the time the movie ended. I would have been willing to scrape off my skin and replace it with frozen popsicles, if only I wasn't too wimpy to withstand the scraping part.


Anyway, the burn is finally easing up, and can let the aloe vera have a break. All that is left is to wait for my entire outer layer of skin to peal off my body and I will be back to normal. Unfortunately I can't just slide out of my old skin like a snake, it will be more of a flaky process (although if I could slide out, that would be awesome- can you imagine all the things I could do with a Charlotte shaped skin?).


I have definitely learned my lesson. I will be using my sunblock on our daily playtime on the beach, even though it is expensive and greasy and smelly. I will even put it on the kids, who all burned, but not as badly as their translucent skinned mother. Or maybe I will skip the sunblock and only enjoy the beach by the light of the moon:


15 comments:

  1. OOO I've done that before. ouch.

    Have you tried the spray on sun block? It's still smelly and a little greasy but not gooey and you don't have to touch it. ( it is more expensive - unfortunately)

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  2. We tried it, but it took a whole bottle to cover the family once. Plus, if you're not extremely careful your coverage can be blotchy... makes for interesting tan lines :)

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  3. ouch. I dont burn that fast. I can last at least an hour in the sun, but not much more.

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  4. Oh man, I wanted to see a picture of the lobster! I'm sorry you got burned, that really is super painful. We were 45 minutes early to Potter and had a line of about 30 people in front of us.

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  5. I use the spray on and my kids have not gotten burned with it.

    By the way....I started to feel bad for you until you posted that picture and reminded me that you live RIGHT ON THE BEACH. I no longer feel bad. That is the breaks kid.

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  6. Oh my, first of all, let me say that the picture is breathtaking...if you happen to see a lone figure standing on your beach in the middle of the night this week, don't be alarmed, it's just me.
    And I am feeling only slightly like Buffalo Bill right now because I want to tell you to compulsively moisturize your skin in the coming days so that when you start to peel, I can get it off in nice, big, sheets that make that "shedding skin" sound...was that way too gross and in-your-personal-space for an acquaintance to say? I would almost consider allowing my entire family to burn just so I could peel them. It brings me great joy, truly.(I didn't mean to imply to you or anyone else that you would LET me peel your sunburned skin, it just one of those awkward, say what I really wanted to say kind of moments.)

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  7. I bet you died at that really jumpy part of the movie. The pic is so pretty. I bet your nice (soon to be) tan is real pretty too

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  8. I too liked the moon-over-water picture, but I was really hoping to see Lobster Mom!

    I re-learned this same lesson two weeks ago, with the addendum that sunblock must be reapplied. Everyone had it, and after four hours on a speed boat, everyone also had a burn. Eight days ago I got heat rash. Don't know if it's related to my big burn, but I still have it and the itching is driving me CRAZY! I hope for your sake that your burn ends only flaky brown skin and not hives running down your limbs.

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  9. The sunburn scares me because I am now having skin cancers burned off my face from such sun burns. Be so careful it can be such a problem when you get older. WATCH THAT SUN WITH YOUR KIDS AND YOURSELF. Wish sometime we could visit you in the summer it would be nice to see the beach when it is warmer. Oh well maybe next year we can afford it. Call me. Love ya

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  10. Ben shares the same translucent skin as you and he never learns. Sunscreen costs like $25 for a small bottle so it's hard to justify using it. I'm glad the burn is getting bettert.

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  11. Ben shares the same translucent skin as you and he never learns. Sunscreen costs like $25 for a small bottle so it's hard to justify using it. I'm glad the burn is getting bettert.

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  12. Oh, and I love the picture!!

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  13. Gordon- you must have gotten all the good skin in the family!

    Kim- sorry, no lobster pictures. I will try to remember to get some next time.

    Davis Family- nah-nah nah-nah boo, boo!

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  14. emma jo- I feel the same way about peeling skin. Fond memories of doing it for my mom. Unfortunately, my 2 year old is the one most interested in doing it (and he pinches hard!).

    Boyer family- pretty tan? What is this tan of which you speak?

    Mary- I hate when I go to the trouble of applying sunblock and get caught in forgetting to reapply. I also hope I get no rashes!

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  15. Tucker Mom- I know better. I'm sorry.

    Bikmans- I bet he burns really badly. I would die if I had to pay that much. It kills me to spend $7 for a big bottle.

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