Air show mishaps

Although I was impressed by the displays at the Wings Over Meridian air show Sunday, I can't say I had an idyllic time. On the contrary, I had a time that made me wonder if maybe I should have taken one co-worker's advice about not walking under ladders.

For starters, I forgot my sunscreen. For most people, that's not too smart. But I have very fair skin, so for me, forgetting sunscreen is one of the most idiotic things I can do. After searching fruitlessly for a vendor who sold sunscreen, I finally decided to just hide in the shade under the wing of C17 for as many of my hours and hours at the air show as I could spare. I thought that would help, but boy I was I wrong. I wound up leaving the show with not only one of the most painful sunburns I've ever had, but easily the most funny looking one. All of my face was hot pink and shiny - except for the area that had been protected by my sunglasses. I had (and still have) a very bad case of raccoon face.

Everywhere I went Monday, total strangers would stop me to comment on my weird looking sunburn. But by Tuesday, people just asked me "Are you okay?" That's because by that time the burn on my forehead had swollen up so that I looked like some kind of weird cave-woman. Halfway through the day, I decided to go to the doctor about it. They wrote me some prescriptions, and on the way back to my car, looking down to keep the rain out of my face, I walked right into a tree. Now I have a two lumps on my forehead.

The sunburn was the worst of my air show weekend mishaps, but far from the only one. While there, I stubbed my toe. After getting home, I got a regular burn to go with my sunburn. Over the weekend, I suffered from intermittent nosebleeds. And Friday, I got air sick.

Right now, looking at my bruised toe, puffy head, and shiny pink face, I feel like I belong on a sitcom. But, at least I got to see some cool air stunts to go along with my mishaps - my air sickness occurred while flying on the most interesting plane I've ever been in, a B-25 Mitchell bomber from WWII, and while I was getting sunburned I was also busy being completely amazed by the Blue Angels and the unbelievable F-22 Raptor. I've also gained a greater appreciation of my ability to laugh at myself. Sometimes, I guess, you have to take the bad with the good...

- Jennifer Jacob
jjacob@themeridianstar.com