Flashback

Frigid temperatures and a crust of ice covering the immediate world have me thinking about summers past. I remember the August I was 13 and fell asleep in the sun. I was lying on my stomach, and the backs of my legs got severely burned -- nothing else, just the backs of my legs. They were bright red and painful, and I could hardly walk. I toddled around bow-legged, like some ancient cowboy, every step a punishment. My mother sprayed some stuff on me that took much of the pain away, but my skin still felt too tight, as if it had shrunk somehow.

We were on vacation at the time, and temporarily staying in a place that had a swimming pool. The water was cool and gave me my first relief in days. After sundown, I sat in the pool for hours, bending and stretching my legs, amazed that they still functioned, that my skin still flexed in all the right places. When I got out, my red legs had turned purple, but I felt infinitely better.

All in all, I think I'd rather be walking down the street shivering and exhaling clouds of steam than hobbling around with sunburned legs.