gross.

I have a very distinctive memory of being quite small, maybe four or so, and peeling sunburned skin from my brother's back. His entire torso was very badly burned, and so the whole thing was fertile peeling ground. I even remember my sister and I having a contest to see who could pull off the biggest piece.

Man, that is gross.

Fast-forward several years. I'm at a nerd camp in the summer before my senior year of high school. I am naive and have not yet realized that the experiences I had in my own family and my own small hometown have not necessarily prepared me for living in greater society. I might tell the back-peeling story, but it would never occur to me to append the statement "Man, that is gross." One day, I stay out in the sun too long and get a sunburned scalp along the part of my hair. A few days later, it starts peeling, and I look like I have a really terrible case of dandruff. I ask a friend for help. He did not grow up in my family, and so he thinks this is insanely weird and disgusting. He also likes me for some reason, and so he helps me out. Years later, he will remind me of it and I will have no recollection of the incident. I do concede that it sounds like something I might have done. I mean, who wants to have dandruff?

That is also pretty gross.

Fast-forward another few years, and I am sitting in the same friend's bed. We are snuggling, because we have become snuggle-friends, and watching TV. I've got a bad case of peeling sunburn on my arms. As I found out, the result of a software company taking its employees out for a baseball game in June is a lot of lobster-colored programmers. The peeling is driving me crazy and I can't stop scratching at it. I suddenly realize that little tiny bits of Sandra skin are floating gently down all over the bed. I think to myself that this is probably one of those gross things that I still do even though I mostly know better now. I look at the snuggle/boy/best friend and timidly say, "I'm getting skin bits all in your bed."

"I know."

"And you didn't say anything?"

"It's not that big a deal."

That is love, which is sometimes gross.