Umbrellas and Sunscreen
Being fearless about what comes out of the sky
(2–2016)
A very dear friend of mine who lives in the rainy Pacific Northwest reported recently that her umbrella was stolen. That may not seem very tragic unless you live in the Pacific Northwest where, at certain times of the year, it rains incessantly.
That got me thinking. I realized that I have never owned an umbrella in my entire life. Never. And I lived in the Pacific Northwest for two years! I have used an umbrella a time or two but I have never owned one — and consequently, I have never had one stolen (or lost). I have been walking this planet for over half a century yet I have never owned an umbrella! Does that make me weird?
(If it does not make me weird there are plenty of other things that do.)
I thought about my friend’s umbrella yesterday while I was out for a walk. Yesterday was a dark, gray, gloomy and rainy day. The sun never came out. I happen to be a very solar person. I need sun every day — and that is why I could not continue living in the Pacific Northwest. Here on the Great Plains of Turtle Island, those kind of sunless days are rare but we have a few of them each year. Yesterday was such a day.
I remember that winter that I lived in Washington State. At one point we went 42…
