Too Much Frying for Ali Pie

“See you later Mom, I’m going to the pool.”

“Ok, just make sure you put on sunscreen first.” 

“yeah, right” I say under my breath as I trot out the door thinking my skin perpetually youthful and somehow more olive complexioned than is reality.

I run across the street to the kind neighbor’s pool they offered my brothers and I during the two summers we lived there.  I lay out in the sun, bake, burn… I did not much to my chagrin and constant attempts otherwise, tan. 

My non-tan-able skin got fried that day as on most days that I pretended to use a shield against the sun’s harmful rays.  I said ‘bring it on’, and I’m paying.  And for the burn I got in Mexico because I didn’t think one could get sun on a cloudy day…oh i can't even go there- blistering, painful to lay on my back for months, crud.

I hear my mom’s words echo…echo…echo in my mind

…As I slather Efudex cream all over my face in effort to quell the mutiny on my epidermis.

Why oh why didn’t I listen and put the gosh darn sunscreen on before I went swimming (and all those oodles and oodles of other times).  I suppose many daughters hitting middle age utter similar sounds.  “Why oh why didn’t I listen?” I suppose many daughters are still saying 'yeah, right' under their breath. I hope we all begin listening more though.  I really hope we do.

I regret not wearing sunscreen because I now have skin ripe with pre-cancer cells, basal cells, sunspots, and deeper-than-need-be-for-30-something-wrinkles.

Anyhoo, I’m applying cream that’s supposed to slough off those danger cells starting tonight.  I’ll update on the 3 week process, try to find out a little more about how this Efudex stuff works.  I understand the ol’ face might be a bit of a frightful sight as the medicine does the job and gets rid of the harmful whatnots.   But would much rather look blistery and odd for a few weeks than the alternative, and let the mutinous cells keep having their way.