Well, summer sadly is winding down. This year has been filled with all sorts of incredible trips with Noah, camping, fishing, traveling… No matter where we’ve gone, we’ve had fun because we were together.
Except, that is, when it comes to the bug bites and sunburns.
I am a magnet for mosquitoes. Don’t ask me why. They can sniff me out from ten miles away, and they come in fast, hungry, and by the thousands. Even when I wipe myself down with mosquito repellant wipes, soak myself down with mosquito repellant spray, and surround myself with dozens of citronella candles, the mosquitoes find a way through. They’ll find the half inch of skin I somehow missed, and they’ll line up waiting for a sip of my sweet, sweet blood.
Noah, on the other hand, doesn’t get bitten. Ever. I have yet to see a swollen red bump where a mosquito has impaled him with his tiny needle straw mouth thingie. I almost always wipe or spray Noah down at the same time I soak myself, but it’s only ever half-heartedly. I know they won’t want him. They’ll want me. They’ll always want me. There’s just something about that boy’s blood that they don’t like, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was a little jealous. I tend to feel like my blood should remain property of me.
I also get sunburned really easily. Noah doesn’t. If we’re out in the sun unprotected, his beautiful dark skin just gets beautifully darker. Mine gets un-beautifully … redder, and days later I’m scrubbing dead skin off, still wincing under the hot water since the only thing worse than hot water on a sunburn is cold water.
Again, I’m a bit jealous. God gave Noah a permanent, perfectly spread tan. God turned me into a 4th of July lawn ornament with arms that are half-white and half-red by the end of summer. Just call me Old Glory.
I’m 1/8th Polynesian. You’d think that beautiful skin would have carried through a few generations.
[sigh] Oh well. There are worse things in life than being covered by tiny carnivores and being attacked by forces from outer space. Not that I can think of any while I’m being assaulted while we’re out and about in the great outdoors.
Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing
PS. I’d love your comments. Do you get easily sunburned? Do the bugs come after you or do they steer clear? In my family, we’re half and half. The mosquitoes love my mom, but they hate my dad. Or was that the other way around? Either way, half of us are always bitter…