Tuesday, March 18, 2014

On Being Out in the Sun





Whenever I see a TV ad featuring half-naked people lazing in the sand on a sunny beach, I remember my own sunbathing experiences. After a couple of humongous sunburns, my exploits out in the sun involved big, floppy hats, dark glasses, cover-all tents and a jug of lead-lined sunscreen. I loved the sun (and why not? Astrologically I’m a Leo.), but the sun did not return the favor. It kissed other peoples’ brown bodies; it torched mine. But decades later the last laugh is mine. I was not gifted with a bronze body, but I also didn’t have to chase skin cancers either, and I did not end up with skin like leather.

Plenty of Exposure...

Over time I grew not to mind being unable to stretch out on a warm beach, sipping cool ones. I have had plenty of exposure, maybe not to the sun, but to all sorts of ideas, and if we’re smart, we find the radiant places that are right for us. There are any numbers of vistas that can shine on us and bring out the best, and there are even better means to find them these days, what with more technologies to help in discovery.


The rascally, curious mind...


It’s good to grapple with a few limitations, some we can actually push through and some we just can't. Who, by wishing, can be six feet tall when your genetics give you a bare five feet? Or who can have cafĂ©-au-lait skin when your forebears are Nordic? But the rascally, curious mind…this is a sun we can all stretch out in!

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