18 March 09 Update from Afghanistan

Remember to laugh at your self sometimes.

For a few weeks now I have been applying sunscreen every couple of hours as for some reason I seem to burn really bad, at least the last couple of years. Tina has been known to jump all over me for coming home with a sunburn knowing that I failed to apply sunscreen. A couple of day ago I ran out of the tube I was using. Knowing that I had some more deep in the recesses of my bags I proceeded to hunt for a tube that was bound to be close at hand. No kidding, after ten minutes and every piece of luggage I had I found my lost tube of sunscreen, now I could do as Tina directs and apply the lotion that keeps me from burning so bad. I don't know why I'm all of the sudden susceptible to burning but it is a pain. There could be an additional culprit as we are all taking malaria meds which can cause a person to burn quicker but that is only one reason. Anyway, all day long I applied this sun screen, every couple of hours I would pull it out and say to myself, wow this stuff is lousy and put more on. At the end of the day I was redder than ever. Everyone in the office just looked at me and wondered what beet I had replaced. Someone suggested that I look at the expiration date on the sunscreen so I pull out my glasses and proceed to read the label on this military tube of sunscreen, for the first time.......And then I start to laugh at myself. You see all day long I have been applying the wrong tube....It's insect repellent. Yep, silly old me, I need to remember to wear my glasses more so I can read the labels. Everyone in our little shop were getting a good laugh at my stupidity and of course pain when I mentioned it to them. By the time we had formation on Tuesday morning the word had trickled around the entire outfit and everyone was having a good old time with my beet colored face. I think back to the application of the stuff and smile as all day long I was wondering why none of the bugs were bothering me when It was so obvious that they were irritating others. So, I now have a few big new tubes of sunscreen as on the spot during formation at least three people gave me new tubes while everyone was laughing.

Yep, you have to be able to laugh at yourself, sometimes. Hope all of you are doing fine, Love Lincoln