Whether the living is easy is a matter up for debate. I have to say, in my half century in looking at how our country is doing, I have never been so unsettled. I am one of those who grew up with the certainty of Ike Eisenhower and never thought we could go so far astray. Apparently by choice. Go figure.

To avoid thinking of that, I was sitting in my brown chair this morning, preparing for the first (and longest) swim of the day, and glancing at the mottled flesh of my arms and followed the track down to my wrist. I have not taken the silver bracelet off my right hand since I got it in New Delhi fifteen years ago. The Sanskrit reads “I am a devotee of Shiva,” which was why I bought it, since we were only there to try to forestall a nuclear confrontation between the former components of what had been British India.

What I didn’t realize was that the swimming motions of this year kept it scrunched down on the joint, and there actually was a difference in the color of my skin.

For anyone else who has competed in the Prime Ray Time (PRT) tanning contest of their operational unit on the equator, you will recognize the results.

It might be melanoma in the future, but damn, summer is great. And I would not trade it for anything on this earth…or the next one.

Vic

Copyright 2017 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com