I’ve just embarked on my two-month trip to Africa and have arrived safely, now settled enough to have the time to put a few words and thoughts down... to be updated regularly. I think that often the gift we can give others is to be able to explain clearly and with detail what we’re thinking, what our work is about, and why it means a lot to us. It’s very easy to go about our lives and do what we consider to be meaningful, but continue to only “preach to the choir” with regards to why we think it’s important. We still impact those around us... but fail to be teachers along the way. Anyways, I digress.

Actually, I’d like today’s topic to be much more light-hearted, and that is, the joy of having an even tan. Do you know what an even tan means to me? To me, it symbolizes being idle. Sitting still. Having enough time in the day to take off layers of clothes, find a spot in the grass or on the sand, lie down, and stay there (with the exception of a fairly regular rotisserie-like rotation ... of course ... to ensure even-ness). Probably not shockingly, I’ve rarely had an even tan over the course of my face-paced life.

For the past 10 years or so it’s been an upper-body-only-in-the-shape-of-sports-bra tan. When I was racing, the suit I wore usually covered my whole lower body and my legs were always tucked under me, into the kneeling position of my racing chair. I would go on racing trips and attempt to even my tan by lying out on the balcony of my hotel rooms, but it was always futile. The hours I’d spend on the track, inadvertently perfecting that sports-bra line, would always overwhelm my efforts to even out my lower body.

Then, of course, there was always the vacation shot-gun attempt. When spending time in a tropical destination, I would usually end up with a serious bikini-line red/white striped pseudo tan. Although this was better than nothing, it would only tease my deeper desire to someday, somehow, actually have an even tan.

What I’ve realized, now having just arrived in the gloriously sunny continent of Africa, is that achieving an even tan is a joyfully meticulous effort, necessitating day-to-day exposure on that vein of being idle and unclothed. I’m here now spending a week with friends in Cape Town, then on to Kampala, Uganda, for seven weeks. This spring... post-Beijing... pre-internship, my goal is to have an even tan. And I consider this to be as important as any other goal in my life. Carpe Diem!

cheri