Labor Day at the Beach--A Long Day in the Sun

I think I may be suffering from sun poisoning but please bear with me.

I hadn't been to the beach in about 10 years. There were times in my life when I'd go fairly often, especially in the summer when the water's not too cold. (I'm a native and would never dream of going into the ocean during the winter months. The crazy tourists did that.) At any rate, I never was a serious sun-worshipper.*

Yesterday B's mother and her boyfriend came over for a visit--she'd just returned from a two-week vacation in NYC, where she raised her family (including B.) and lived until a few years ago (she was born in Puerto Rico). To make a long story short, I was coerced (ganged up upon) into joining in on a family outing today to Hollywood Beach. I.e., I wasn't asked; I was essentially told to go, and if I'd refused or backed out, they'd all have accused me of being anti-family and anti-social (apparently, a Latin thing against Anglos).

I could have gotten pissed off at B. about it but I didn't want to come across as a party-pooper or a spoil-sport (or, Heaven forbid, anti-family, even though I do have my own family and am on good terms with them). Besides, I actually looked forward to going into the ocean.

They picked us up at around 10:15 this morning (before my usual wake-up time on weekends and holidays--and B's usual wake-up time is noon [he works nights] so he can't have loved it either). We headed to the beach located at the end of Johnson Street and got a good parking space in the garage ($5--I paid). They put up two umbrellas on the beach and had a chair for me to sit in, but I could see there weren't enough chairs, so after a while I went to the nearest little beach accoutrement shop and bought another chair and a small umbrella that screwed onto the chair.

B. and his family are dark-skinned and obviously suffered no discomfort basking (or more accurately, baking) for hours in the direct sunlight--we were there till after 5. Except for a few dips in the ocean, I stayed under the umbrella(s) at all times and never removed my tanktop, and still managed to get badly sunburned. I'd even brought along a beach shirt (and ended up wearing it).

As B's mother and the boyfriend were dropping us back off at our apartment, B's mother warned me to put some lotion on my sunburn lest I end up in the hospital. She was truly alarmed and no doubt felt a little guilty for shanghaiing me for this event. Meanwhile I don't think I'll be a participant in any future all-day family beach outings--and now they know why: I can't handle it--I'm white.

Perhaps I should have slathered on sunblock (which I didn't have) before I left home, but the point is: this is not my idea of having fun. At one point I wanted to leave the party and sit behind the bandshell (out of the sun altogether), but then, again, they would have accused me of being anti-social and anti-family. It was a no-win situation for me.

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*I guess since my maternal grandmother died of melanoma at age 55 (she believed in the curative powers of ocean water, as my mother related to me years after her mother's death) and I've had pre-cancers removed from my own skin. Plus I'm fair-skinned and don't want to get all wrinkly and look old "before my time" (I guess I'm a little vain about that).