On Saturday afternoon my mother expressed her concern for my health. She knows I've been having sleep issues and she was worried by my appearance. "You look awfully pale" she said, "You don't look well".
Oops.
How does one tell one's mother not to worry without revealing the reason one looks a bit pale? I went to a lot of trouble (for someone who has to do it as a bloke, anyway) to match my foundation colours to my skin tone and I'm damned if I'm going to let Mother Nature ruin it all for me so I've been freely slapping on the SPF30. Right now I think this would be a little Too Much Information for her.
I mumbled something about staying out of the sun and the conversation moved on without incident. Phew!
Good girl, apply sunscreen and repeat. Wish I had stayed out of the sun when I was younger.
ReplyDeleteThat's always an interesting one. I've got the same with the mother in law asking my wife regularly if I'm OK, is work OK etc etc.
ReplyDeleteKind of hard to tell her I'm sane yet off my trolley as far as most are concerned! To see her face might well be worth it though....................
At least they are showing concern, mine didn't.
ReplyDeleteCaroline xxx
that's the trouble with being pale and interesting. People get interested. Never could abide suntans myself.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there is anything wrong with saying that you use sun screen. I don't go out without SPF50 on when the sun is at it's harshest and I'm going to be our for a while.
ReplyDeleteMisplaced concern maybe, but good all the same :)
Stace
My mostly-outdoor leisure pursuits finally catch up with me, I'm expected to turn the colour of a butcher's sausage in summer and instead I stay the same colour as one from a supermarket. I guess I can't blame my mother and I should be really glad she cares enough to comment. I suspect pale and interesting might be pushing it a little far though.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough I could talk to my mother-in-law about this a lot more easily than my mother.
Mrs. J has ensured I use lower SPF sun cream for years, I just upped the strength to retain a bit of palour.