Trigger warning: this piece features brief mentions of a deer being hit.
Have you ever attended a Renaissance Festival? I haven’t been to many, but they are always super fun to attend! The food, the performances, the COSTUMES!!! Haha! There was a Ren Faire taking place about two and a half hours from where I live, so I asked an old college friend of mine, who lives near that area, if she would like to meet up there. We decided against dressing up this time (who knows where our costumes even are at this point haha), but I always love seeing what dedicated people choose to wear to the Ren Faires. I checked the weather forecast and saw that it was supposed to be partly cloudy with a high temperature of around 16 degrees C. In the area where I live, a day like that would usually have a person wear a light jacket or hoodie. I am typically a more hot-natured person, but I took a hoodie along in my car just in case.
The main reason for attending this event was to watch one specific musician perform. My friend and I agreed upon an arrival time close to when the musician was to play her first set, and allowed enough time to roam the grounds and locate the stage where she would be performing. As soon as I got out of my car, I knew the weather app had lied. Sure, if the wind was blowing, there was a hint of chill in the air, but it was overall quite warm to me. I still didn’t think much of it until my friend and I found the stage where the musician would be performing. As we waited for her set to begin, I could feel the sun searing into my forehead after only 5 minutes. I know good and well that I am ‘The Palest of Them All’ and burn very quickly and easily, but where I come from, a 16-degree C day does not equal a day to get a sunburn, so it never even crossed my mind to wear sunscreen. I let my friend know that as soon as the musician was done with her first set, we needed to go find me a hat. We enjoyed the musician’s set, then took off immediately in search of a hat for some sun protection. I bought the first hat I saw, but it was already too late. When I put the hat on, it hurt my forehead a bit where I was already burned. It also didn’t register until far too late that my exposed forearms should also have some shielding. *sigh* I wear a watch with a 3-inch wide band on my left wrist, and a 3-inch wide band imprinted with the names of my nieces and nephews on my right wrist. Those 3 inches on each arm displayed the stark contrast and intensity of the sunburn when I removed the bands. Here we are, 5 weeks later, and my forearms still have a slightly reddish tint to them. Needless to say, I will wear sunscreen every day for the rest of my life, no matter the temperature or forecast, even in the dead of winter.
In a similar oddity of unexpected happenstance, a few weeks later I made a 10-hour drive to see a friend’s band perform live for the first time. It was such a great show! With my work schedule, I had to turn around and drive the 10 hours home the very next day, but I didn’t mind. These turn-and-burn trips are definitely starting to make me feel my age a bit, but I will keep it up as long as I can.
Isn’t it interesting that no matter how prepared we are for things in life, we can still be caught off-guard sometimes? I know to use sunscreen when I am out in the sun, and I know to be extra diligent when driving in the dark because of deer, yet I still managed to get one of the worst sunburns of my life, and hit a deer for the first (and hopefully only) time. We can often have all of the strategies and resources firmly grasped and ready to go, but something unexpected can throw everything off. This is just evidence that recovery and general life are not linear. There is always something new to learn and experience, and it’s not always fun. The key here is to acknowledge the negative thing, accept the learning moment, and continue on the journey. Is this easy? Most of the time, no, unfortunately. However, shifting perspectives and striving to live in peace among the day-to-day chaos of life is very helpful when life throws a wrench into our plans. It’s also important to not allow those moments to steal the greater joy around you.
Did I lament weeks of pain, peeling, and overall frustration of a sunburn? Yes. Am I still annoyed even now that I didn’t realise that I needed to wear sunscreen? Yes. But… did I really enjoy the performances at the Ren Faire? Yes. Did I have a great time with my college friend? Yes. Did I enjoy seeing my friend’s band play live for the first time? Yes. Was it worth the 10-hour drive? Absolutely yes.
While the sunburn and deer are very frustrating and costly incidents, when people ask me about going to the Ren Faire to see that musician, or the 10-hour drive to see my friend’s band for the first time, I tell them about what great shows I saw, how talented the musicians are, and how happy it made me to see these live performances; I don’t tell them about the sunburn or the deer until afterwards, and we all get a good laugh out of the absurdity of it all. Yes, there were some negative things that occurred, but that is not as important as the joy in my heart from the live shows. I will try to remember sunscreen for the rest of my life, and continue to be diligent in watching for deer when driving, but I refuse to allow those things and the potential of those (or other) things to keep me from enjoying more live music or support my friends. Life happens sometimes, but if we allow it, life can also be so wonderful in spite of the difficulties. I choose to live in peace as much as I can so that when the inevitable absurdities pop up, I can recover more quickly.
How can you choose to live in peace today? How can you encourage and support someone who has some absurdity going on right now? For a religious view, “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace…” (Romans 15:13). For a general view, the more you choose to live in peace, the easier it is to find hope and experience joy. Peace, hope, and joy are contagious, so spread them around as much as possible. And always wear sunscreen!
-Mary Beth
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