Sunshine On My Shoulders

Take a moment to step outside and close your eyes. Quiet your mind listen to the world around you.  What do you hear? Feel?  There is nothing I love more than stepping outside this time of year and feeling the warmth of sunshine upon my face.  This morning I hear the chirp of the cardinal and the coo of a morning dove.


I and a large majority of people who call the midwest home are pretty naturally fair skinned, but our complexion becomes even more "lily white" during the winter months when the sun's rays are less powerful and we are shut up in doors.  It seems my skin becomes so pasty white it is almost reflective when it sees the sun for the first time in the Spring.  One of my very favorite things also in the Spring is to sit beneath our pergola or in the swing Mark made out of an old victorian bed frame.  For a brief moment life seems to stop and all is right in the world.


Photosensitivity 
What if after ten minutes of soaking in the sun's warmth your skin begins to burn or you start to break out in hives from the heat?  Your cheeks begin to get hot, the scalp of your part begins to singe, and the tops of your hands and feet begin to redden and get bumpy.  The sun your skin so loves and craves only inflicts a lasting distress.  My skin for the last decade or so has been more and more sensitive to the sun, but in the last year and a half some of the medications that are now part of my daily life to fight CF make my skin extra sensitive to the sunlight and cause it to easily burn.  How do I fight back? I wear high SPF sunscreen, long sleeves, sunglasses, a big floppy hat Mark bought me, and sit in the shade.  Gone are the days of a golden summer sun kissed glow. Pale and pasty are my new tan, or if I am in the sun too long, the shade of a steamed lobster.

I still crave the sun.  I still love closing my eyes and feeling the warmth on my cheeks. I love being still for a few moments, forcing myself to feel and hear the beauty all around me, to let the world seem like it is all mine for just a moment.  Love to you all.

Step outside today and bask in the beauty of the sun's warmth, but don't forget your floppy hat.