As life passes I find that God has blessed me in many ways. I have relatively good health, a desire to live life to the fullest, friends I miss terribly, two great kids and three wonderful grandkids, I have the absolute love of my life with me for a lifetime and her two wonderful kids and her two super grandkids. I'm living a life I only dreamed about, but is now a reality. What more can a person wish for?
Yes, God has blessed me in many ways. Did I mention that He also has a quirky sense of humor? Not everyone is aware of that side of Him but I have been the victim of one of His humorous pranks.
As has been mentioned here, we are staying here in Topsail
until the end of September, then wandering through Pennsylvania and West
Virginia, visiting in-laws and outlaws along the way; oh yes, there may be a sprint
car race involved in there as well. We'll
travel to Washington DC for a few days and then to Greensboro, NC and on to
Charlotte, NC for our annual foray into the World of Outlaws finals race in
November. A little more travel and then back here for the month of December. After that, look out America, we're coming!
With all that said, staying here at Topsail gives us ample opportunity to enjoy the beach
lifestyle this area offers. Given all
the wonderful adventures documented herein, I have not had ample opportunity to
enjoy the glories of the beach sunshine.
It was a beautiful afternoon, lower 80s for temperatures
with a cooling breeze, so Gail and I decided to take advantage of the nearby
beach for a couple of hours. We got out
our beach chairs, packed a cooler with drinks and set off for the sounds and
smells of the wonderful Atlantic Ocean. We found a nice area to set up and after doing so began to enjoy the
ocean air and each other's company. The
sun was warm and inviting and I laid back in my chair to take it in. Enter the humorous God!
Now I'm not blaming God directly for every one of my
mistakes, all I'm saying is He sometimes needs to teach us a lesson or maybe, as
I said before, He has a weird sense of humor and so plants little lapses of
memory in our thinking process. Either
way, I am here to attest to Him taking advantage of my human failings.
We finally decided to leave and gathered up chairs and ice
chest. As I pulled on my T-shirt, I
noticed the distinct twinge of pain on my shoulders and back. Thinking only that I really got some sun, we
headed home to shower away the salt
spray and sand. As I stepped into the
shower I cringed almost into a fetal position from the pain realizing I had a
full on sunburn. I cannot describe the
contortions required to shower and the even worse feeling when toweling off. I would not have been surprised to have
spontaneously combusted.
That was four days
ago and I'm a lot better now. The itchy
part has now manifested itself and showers aren't as painful but I won't
venture out in the sun for few more days at least. I'm sure God and Gail have had a good
laugh. As for me, I learned three
important things; sun screen, limit time in the sun and baste as appropriate.
Snicker, snicker, snicker...Jack
