Fire-Engine Red...(and then some)

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Thanks for the comments re. my backside -- no, it's not my posterior, although it is tough to sit for so long a drive. My upper backside got so burnt last Tuesday on our outing to Cocoa Beach. Of course, I'd warned the kids about getting sunburnt, all the grandparents had warned their kids and their grandchildren about sunburn, and this mom got so badly burnt! Yes, we were wearing our bathing suits and were all doused with suncream, but this mother did not reapply it on her backside throughout the afternoon -- the wind and the waters of the Atlantic presumably washed off the Coppertone.

Okay, better me than the kids getting burnt -- but this kid has not been burnt in years and years and she forgot what it was all about. First the skin gets red and hot to the touch, then it begins to prickle but in a painful way, then it gets itchy. This takes place over a few days, so the family had to watch me and hear me "suffer"!

Imagine someone taking an Afro pick to your backside and making continual indentations on it for about 2-3 days. Imagine that it's not just an irritation, but rather a true and painful discomfort. That's the closest I can come to describing the "pain" to you. Now also consider that a few days earlier, after my husband's hat flew off in a water ride, and he having a "shiny top," I gave him my ball cap to wear for a while. Well, that day, my head and scalp burned too, and imagine the prickling my head went through. I wondered if this prickle/itch was what it felt like to have head lice. But it, too, managed to pass after a couple of days.

Aloe vera gel is the remedy I was using over the past week, and its cooling measures helped the healing along. But this very normally pale-skinned, freckled face and body of mine learned a lesson the hard way: You're never too old to listen to your parents...warn about sunburn!

Hats off to our parents -- no, on second thought I'll keep my hat on. I already got sunburned on my head!