Lessons Learned...

(Authored by Jack)
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!   

For some unknown reason I did not want to get greased up with sun screen (mistake number one). Again, for some unknown reason, I laid directly into the sun (mistake number two). Instead of staying just an hour or two, no, I insisted on staying for three hours (mistake number three). Did I listen to Gail through all of this? No (mistake number four).

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