Wear sunscreen
Somebody very dear to me gave me a song years ago. Seven minutes of a calm voice listing the things that are going to happen to you. I've played it ever since, through the good stretches and definitely through the dark ones.
Turns out nobody ever gave that speech. It's a newspaper column, written by Mary Schmich for the Chicago Tribune in 1997, that went round the world by email under Kurt Vonnegut's name. Not why I'm writing this, but it does make the rest funnier.
The only line anybody ever proved
The column says sunscreen is the one item on the list with real science under it, and that part checks out. A trial in Queensland followed 1,621 people: 3 invasive melanomas in the daily-sunscreen group, 11 in the other.
I'm planning to move to Southeast Asia (no date yet, so don't ask), a good deal closer to the equator than Switzerland. So the one line anybody ever proved is the one I'll need before breakfast.
Since this is meant to be useful: Thailand banned four sunscreen chemicals across all its national parks in 2021. Oxybenzone, octinoxate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor, butylparaben. Carrying it into a park counts, not just wearing it, and the fine runs to 100,000 baht. Read the back of the bottle before you pack it.
Home, and whether it stays put
I grew up somewhere, and in a lot of ways that's home, more for the people than the place. Then I moved half way across the world and that became home too. But did it ever?
Nomad is an overused word and maybe it fits. What fits better: home might not be a fixed place forever. It can be anywhere, for any length of time.
She gave me that song because she thought I'd like it, and she's been right for twenty-odd years. I don't think she had any idea how much this song would impact my life. If I were more dramatic I would say it saved my life, but what it certainly did was change the direction of my life when it needed a change of direction. If you ever read this: Thanks P! Always!
Some things only make sense backwards. Whichever year you look back from, it turns out things were not as bad as they seemed at the time. Don't let a temporary situation turn into regret.
Don't be shy, say hi if you're anywhere on the route!