Basal Cell Carcinoma

Wear your sunscreen.  They've been warning us for years.  I never listened.  I'm a quick tanner, inherited it from my dad.  He used to get so dark in the summer that he told me he was an Indian.  I believed him until I was old enough to figure it out (last year).  So imagine how silly I felt holding my husband's hand in the dermatologist's office while they cut off a piece of his face containing basal cell carcinoma.  Me with a golden brown tan, and a doctor with several assistants looking at me thinking "you'd like to be next would ya?"

So I'm turning over a new leaf.  Sunscreen has become part of the morning routine.  Carnation Instant Breakfast, allergy meds, sunscreen.  It's taken some getting used to.  I have to admit I love the way I feel/look with a good tan.  But I'd like the next 40 years of my life to be as cancer-free, not to mention wrinkle-free, as possible.  I figure one of the best ways to negotiate life is to eliminate as many negative variables as possible.  Sunburns are one negative variable I can actually do something about.  Now if only there was a way to eliminate dirty dishes.  

Post Script:
After writing this post I ran into town.  I ran into a friend of mine who has been battling cancer for years now.  Not the cancer that gets cut off, but the cancer that grows from the inside out.  My heart sank as she revealed the cancer is not going away.  I bought her a soda and we drank to tomorrow.  It's my hope/prayer that she'll have many more tomorrows.  It's my hope/prayer that I'll always have the gratitude in my heart that I felt tonight.  Gratitude for good friends and gratitude for the opportunity to negotiate life.