SPF Love
July 9, 2008 – 8:14 amEveryone has that one story of the sunburn they’ll never forget. My story begins the day before my oldest sister’s wedding.
Upon our arrival to the beach, the first thing my sister said to me was, “Do not get sunburned! You will ruin the wedding pictures.” Being a sixteen-year-old, I didn’t think much about it. After all, I rarely burned and the dress was yellow – I couldn’t be pale! That afternoon, my other sister and I settled into a comfy section of the sand and were set to sunbathe for the next four hours, sans sunscreen. To this day, I believe it was one of the stupidest things my sister and I have ever done. We were so sunburned!
I still remember the pain of the next few days, but what I remember most is the guilt. I did not want to be responsible for ruining my sister’s big day. After all, she had given me specific instructions. Luckily two things happened: she was so excited to be marrying the man she loved, she didn’t seem to notice. And after seeing the pictures, you couldn’t really tell we were sunburned anyways.
From that day on, I have always been an advocate of sunscreen. And I feel now, it’s almost a faux pas not to wear sunscreen. Last weekend, a bunch of friends and I were going to a parade. Before leaving the apartment, I swear there were three to four tubes of sunscreen being passed around. While we were all helping each other with the white spots of sunscreen we had missed, we each happily shared a story of the sunburn we will never forget.
As I looked around, I couldn’t help but smile to myself as I thought of my own story of that infamous day.
-Mary
*July is UV Safety Month. Click here to learn more about sun safety.
