As long as there is thirst, there's always...

The beauty of coming home for more than 3 days at Christmas is the opportunity provided for your family to remember all the ridiculous things you have done throughout your life and bring them back up to declare your stupidity to the world.

Let me share one such instance for your unbridled enjoyment.

As I recall this event occured during either the summer of '98 or '99. At this time in my young adult (yes, I use that loosely) life, my family would take summer vacations to the beach. During these warm, endless, sunny days, my brother and I thought it was much more entertaining to utilize sunscreen for temporary tattoo's as opposed to the intended overall sun protection Waterbabies advocates.

We typically would fashion a batman, superman or large A on my brother's chest in the vain hopes that he would be permanently (a few months) branded. Well, I can't say that any of our attempts actually resulted in anything more than a slight discoloration of his chest.

So when my sister dared me to write a sunscreen tattoo on my leg, I quickly agreed and thought it would be little more than the front of my legs looking a shade lighter than the back.

Of course, as my family is very classy, her inspiration for my less than flattering mark can be traced to a popular ad campaign at the time. Let me refresh your memory...





Yes, I wrote "Make 7" on one leg and "Up Yours" on the other, only to have it become the most successful sunscreen tattoo anyone has ever seen. My bishop found it particularly unnerving that following Sunday to look down from the podium and see an innocent Beehive with her legs crossed and read "Up Yours."

And as though the humiliation of having obscenities tanned into my legs last through the entire winter isn't enough, my family brings these stories up at dinner 10 years later.

Gotta love family.