Today I know better and take the appropriate precautions: SPF 30, a broad-brimmed hat, a spot in the shade at the lake. Perhaps is best not to lay out at all, but I can’t resist.
Maybe because it’s such an old habit or impulse. As a kid, I used to put iodine drops in baby oil as a suntanning lotion. We would stake out a spot at the pool, on the cooler grass area if possible, but sometimes there were not spaces, so we had to lay out on the concrete. We never thought about the damage.
Even today, I like to set up the spot with all the necessary extras: a book or magazine, which I usually read for about 12 minutes, but then I just want to close my eyes; a bottle of water; a snack, grapes, chunks of salted watermelon, strawberries in early summer. I use a rolled up t-shirt as a pillow. Hard to imagine needing anything else.
But it’s really all about the heat. Very hot days are the best, 95 degrees. The heat presses me into the ground and moving feels heavy. Oppressive heat. Heat I cannot play in or think in. Heat that says, “Stop. Whatever you’re doing, just, no…” Heat I can see in the distance. Heat that hums in my ears. You win, I think, I give up. And giving up is so easy, so simple, so complete.
No comments:
Post a Comment