burn baby burn

first and foremost, before i begin this post, i must say congratulations to all of my friends that graduated this weekend. i am forever blessed to have had the opportunity to know you, spend time with you, laugh, cry and fight with you, and be forever molded by the obstacles we have conquered and the presence of who you are. you will all do great things, class of 2012, and wherever you go, go with all your heart.

now as for this said weekend full of graduations and congratulations, i managed to spend a lot of time outside. i mean, sitting in the sun from 9:30-2:00 for a graduation is quite some time and my shoulders...face...arms..they didn't adjust well to this all natural sun that they haven't seen gleaming on them for a good year. needless to say i am burnt. toasted. fried. my shoulders could be mistaken as a lobster.

this picture really does no justice.

and this got me to thinking. as i was applying the aloe to my freshly sun-kissed skin, i realized what a wonderful analogy this is to life.

follow me here. you sit outside, indulge if you will, and completely lose track of time in this wonderful bliss of a life. it is not until you wake up one day with a splitting pain that you are reminded that things in life can be taken - can change - can hurt us without any notice. sure, this may not always be the case, not everything blindsides us in life, but doesn't it feel sometimes as if that beautiful life, just when we least expect it, burns us?

but why focus on this, we have all experienced it. if we haven't (which honestly you would probably be a miracle of life and i would get on my hands and knees and beg you for your secret) you have read about it, seen a movie revolving around it, etc. what i want to focus on is what evolves from the burn. what makes the burn worthwhile.

after awhile that burn begins to ease. the pain begins to subside. and the layer that caused such pain and discomfort starts to peal away...no pun intended...well....maybe. and what is left is this beautiful sun kissed skin that is glowing (and well protected from now on with some SPF 50). something that was never insight a few days ago when the pain blinded us is now allowing us to realize that maybe, sometimes the pain is worth suffering - that sometimes a lesson that hurts is what changes us in the best way. sometimes we get entirely caught up in this life that we do not always take the time to understand what is happening around us. sometimes we do not notice the lessons that are being taught or the values we should be learning. sometimes as we go on living our lives a lesson just sneaks up on to us, like that tricky little sun peaking in and out of the clouds, and teaches us a lesson whether we are ready for it or not. and maybe these are the best lessons we learn, the most valued, because we do not intend them to happen.

who knew some killer sunburn could make one think so much?

oh, and happy May! when the heck did that happen?