Burn baby burn.

My back's peeling. It's disgusting. And for some reason I wore a shirt with a lower back on it so everyone can be as disgusted as I am.

For some reason, when I was gardening(read: pulling weeds for four hours)last weekend I didn't apply sunscreen. It didn't even cross my mind. Of course it was cloudy but who is still stupid enough to think that you can't get a sunburn through the clouds? Me apparently. Me, who is the whitest person ever and the biggest advocate of sun screen on the planet. Me, who nags my husband constantly when he doesn't wear it. Me, who has gotten 25 moles removed because 3 were pre-cancerous. Me, who is now going to get skin cancer because it would serve me right.

I think this was probably the worst burn I've ever had. It hurt so much I couldn't sleep on my back and a few days ago it started bubbling. There was actually a large bubble of skin between my shoulder blades. (Oh yeah, parents? You probably should have stopped reading a few sentences ago.)

When I went and got the second set of moles removed the doctor looked at me with real disgust and said "What, did your parents let you go outside and get burned all the time when you were a kid or something?" Well, yes they did. But that was only because they kept me in a cage out in the yard. I couldn't help but get burned. It was only by a stroke of luck that I escaped one day when they accidentally left my cage open after they changed my water. I was found by a nice Hudderite family who took me in and cleaned me up. It took me a while to adjust to eating with utensils and standing upright but I'm doing OK now.

What an asshole thing to say. A doctor none the less. Like my parents perceived negligence caused me to get pre-cancerous moles. I was born in the mid-70's. No one knew about the dangers of the sun. Your parents didn't let you go out and get burned. You just did. No one cared. It was painful sometimes but, oh well. I remember getting burned on purpose because I wanted to have some colour. My mom used to tan to the point of changing her heritage. All the women on our block did. People still do it now, even after knowing the dangers. But back then it was pretty commonplace to go outside and not have to worry about slathering lotion all over yourself. Back then you didn't have to worry about getting cancer from everything you did, ate, or breathed in.

I can't wait until I have kids.