An oops

J grew his hair for 11 months, but finally got it cut four days ago… and today he paid the price for that. It had been no fun biking on a warm day with long hair covering his neck, but it’s really not ideal to expose the back of one’s neck to the sun for three hours. He realized he should have put on sunscreen not long after leaving home, and even texted me about it, but it didn’t occur to him that he’d be passing within a block of a major supermarket on his way to the wetlands. Oh well. He did have a fine time watching and listening to the birds! He saw a pair of bald eagles harassing an osprey, and he made several recordings that I’ll get to hear tomorrow. On the way back he got a milkshake at Mandy’s, and I walked down to the neighborhood park to meet him. The back of his neck is very red, as are his arms.

I think we should keep some sunscreen with his bike helmet so he’ll be less likely to forget. I seldom think of sunscreen myself – I’m very rarely outside in mid-day, let alone for hours in direct sun, and my skin is a lot more resilient to UV burning than his, too.