Grrrr Irish!

I am angry with my heritage! As most of you know my heritage is as follow: 75% German, 25% Irish. And I have found over the years that I look and tend to act in more of a German manner. I am a fairly serious person with a strong work ethic (very German.) The couple of times I have been to Germany, I looked like everyone else there. My maiden name means something about running in German. Do not even get me started about how German my married name is. Now for the most part, people of German decent tan fairly well, my husband being exhibit A.

Unfortunately my ability to tan is not traced back to my German roots, it is directly tied to my Irish heritage. In other words I burn badly with only limited exposure to the sun. Every so often I forget how Irish my skin tone really is and yesterday was one of those days. I spent the afternoon outside. Although I did spend a fair amount of time in the shade and put sun block on before I left the house, it was no use. I literally match my pink pajamas right now. Why is that the one Irish trait I get? Why could I not be good at writing poetry or enjoy whisky? These Irish traits I do not have, but being pasty is the one I get.

I am ok with the fact that I will never be really tan. In fact, I do not go out in the sun a lot. I don’t want my skin to be the texture of shoe leather when I enter my 40s or worse yet have to deal with skin cancer. I wish I could however be able to spend a day outside every so often without looking like a lobster the next day.