When the sunscreen doesn't work

At the beginning of the summer, I put swim days on the schedule as assurance for the kids that we would indeed log some pool hours and as a sanity saver for me, because I did not want to be asked every day, multiple times a day, if we could go to the pool. So, if we're in town, you can usually find us at the Marble Falls pool on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

Now, I have always been a special shade of pale, and in my stupider younger years, I got enough sunburns to know that there is nothing glamourous about spending days and weeks walking around like a lobster who has already taken a dip in the boiling water. So, between that and the fact that everyone these days knows how dangerous UV rays can be, I use sunscreen religiously. And, I slather it on my kids, as well, even though they have all been fortunate enough to inherit some of the tan pigment from their father. This summer, we have been using Banana Boat's spray-on sunscreen, with excellent results. Until today. I sprayed us all down, as usual, but there must have been some sort of problem, because a couple of us ended up with pretty nasty sunburns anyway. So much for good intentions, huh?!

And, really, I feel this way about life sometimes. There are so many times when I feel like I'm doing all the right things, all the things I know I should be doing, but, still, the sunscreen fails and I don't get the results I'm hoping for. In fact, sometimes, even with all my good intentions and do-gooding, the only thing that registers at the end of the day is pain. And, I wonder why I ever even bothered in the first place. Do you ever feel like that?

The thing about the sting of the sunburn is, it rarely lasts more than a day or two. And, I am learning, ever so slowly, to not let the sting of a day (or week or year) get to me. I am learning to push through the pain and to soothe it in whatever ways I can. Because, even though the sunscreen didn't work this time, doesn't mean I won't ever be able to enjoy a day in the sun again.