In this neck of the woods, tanning is tough during this time of year. Mostly because it is 30 degrees, and the UV is 1. In Florida however, tanning comes easy for many. For Addy, tanning was the worst decision she’d ever made.
On a beautiful, warm-ish day in the tropical state of Florida, I sprayed myself with SPF-something sunscreen and sat back and relaxed. I laid my towel on a lounge chair next to my family and tortured myself by staring at the sun for 10 minutes straight.
Little to my knowledge, I forgot to spray the part that everyone sees regardless of how warm or cold it is: my face. I’m making it out to be worse than it really was; I had a cute little sunburn on the tip of my nose that received many compliments. This however, was just the beginning of the horrendous tanning experience.
I gave tanning another shot after a few cold and weirdly windy days. Huge mistake on my part. It wasn’t the traditional tanning I described earlier. My family was docked at the poolside having a leisurely conversation about the state of the world as we know it and somehow solving every international issue.
I, on the other hand, was sitting on a normal patio chair, in what I thought was shade, watching TikTok. It was not the shade I expected – it was a giant cloud that evidently did not protect me from the very radiant UV rays. This is where I started to panic, as the one travel sized sunscreen bottle we had mysteriously went missing, and I wasn’t wearing any sun protection.
“Addy you look a little red” was muttered from one of my family members’ mouths. A little? I looked like I had been deep fried twice and reheated in an air fryer. Beef jerky-esque. Was it my goal to look like I had been formed in a Buc-ee’s kitchen? No, not quite. Instead, I wanted to have a nice glow so I didn’t have to pay for a spray tan, as prom was approaching and my dress washed me out.
This burn hurt more than I can explain. The ocean breeze caused me immense pain, all at the fault of my own father. He was the culprit of hogging the one thing that could have saved my skin–sunscreen. Funny story, he didn’t even use the sunscreen he took from his poor family! He came back from his beach fishing side quest all red and swollen. Yikes. Makes my experience sound a little better. And that, it was.
Needless to say, tanning is not for me. I will be tanning while swimming, or running, or literally anything other than lying face up to the sun. As they say, that ugly burn will turn into an exquisite tan. My prom dress will never wash out the color I have now obtained due to the irresponsible actions of my father.
