I don’t know about your family, but some of my most
interesting chats with the kids happen in the car.
We were in the car last night going to
therapy and Alesia was quiet. Suddenly she said, “Do you think I have sun damaged skin on my face?”
I thought it was a bizarre question. “No,” I replied evenly.
“But most
people have sun damaged skin,” she insisted.
“Alesia, you
always wear sunscreen on your face. I’ve only seen you even sunburned maybe once in the
past 4 ½
years.”
It suddenly occurred to me where she came up
with that. “You
got that from a magazine article, didn’t you?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she admitted.
“Sweetie, everyone
who goes outside probably has a little sun damage on their face by the time
they are 30. That’s
normal. You are 17 years old. I don’t think you have any sun damage. Those articles just
sensationalize things, and they are aimed at older women than you.”
“What do you
mean?”
“Well, think
about it. If the title of the article was “Everybody Over 30 Probably Has Some Sun Damage to
Their Skin,” that
doesn’t
sound too interesting. But a title like “The Sun is DAMAGING Your Skin – What to Do?!” sounds a lot more interesting
and scary.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Mother and I were headed to Kroger the other
day and the kids were in the back. We didn’t think they were paying any attention to our
conversation. I said something to Mother about the CEO of Chrysler, and
wondering about the company’s future. I then said “CEO” again. Mike’s voice piped up from the backseat, “You don’t have to spell that out! We can
spell!”
I couldn’t think what on earth he was talking about. I looked
at Mother. She looked at me. I asked him what he thought we were spelling out.
“You know,
C-E-O!” was
the indignant reply.
After Mother and I were done laughing I
asked Michael what he thought I was trying to spell. “I dunno… Something naughty?”
“Uh, well,
c-e-o is not a word, buddy.”
“All right.”
Michael loves the Matrix movies. Maybe he
was thinking of Neo, the character played by Keanu Reeves.
UPDATE ON EYES
I have been wearing contacts since I was 14
years old, which is 32 years. Yikes. Now I feel old. The first pair was
incredibly expensive and it took about 15 minutes to put them in and take them
out, because you had to mix up your own solution. Now I pop them in and out in
about 1 minute. I am SO tired of wearing glasses for two weeks. My glasses were
very expensive and fashionable when I bought them, in 2000, but now they are
scratched and bent and uncomfortable. I hate wearing them.
The eye dr. today talked me into trying the
bifocal contacts again, for a week. This pair feels much better. He said within
a week I should know if they are going to work for both close and distance
vision. So far, the left one is fine and the right one is a bit blurry. I told
him I’d try them the one week only.
It’s so nice not to have to wear glasses!
CALL ME OKAASAN
There's an interview with Suzanne Kamata about Call Me Okaasan in this month's edition of Expat Women.
Check it out here.
I am getting some more copies of the book from the publisher, and they will be available to y'all at a discount soon.
