Sunscreen

Sunscreen

A poem by Linda M Wheeler

"You need to put on sunscreen", my mother would say, "before you go out to play"!
She rubbed it on our backs, shoulders, necks.  Her hands felt good, the white balm offering a thin veil of protection.
While other girls smoothed baby oil in a gossamer coat onto their thin, white bodies, baking in the sun.  Turning red and then brown, but we wore sunscreen.
Did my mother realize even back then, that the sun could harm us?  She spent her precious pennies to protect our fair and delicate bodies, not just for a day, but for a lifetime.