To Tan, Perchance To Dream

I have gray hair, green eyes, and a fair complexion. Needless to say, I don't tan particularly well.

This past weekend, I went to Bethany Beach. On the drive down to the beach, I had the top down on my car. I suppose I should have thought about the fact that I would be in the car for more than 3 hours with the sun beating down on me. But I didn't. Didn't give it a second thought. Until I hit about 1-1/2 hours in and I could feel that my skin was starting to be none to happy with me.

At that point in the drive, I was just past Rt. 50 and on Rt. 404 heading east. Since I was heading east, I was not driving directly into the sun. The sun was behind me, dropping down in the western sky. So I guess I figured that I wouldn't get any more color. Or at least not a significant amount.

I was wrong. By the time I got to Bethany, my left shoulder just next to my neck (inside the scoop neck of the top I was wearing) and the tops of my legs were burned. I had a definite line across my things where my shorts had laid as I drove. The burn wasn't bad. I've certainly had worse. It did, however, make for an interesting look in my bathing suit. I was sort of tricolored. White belly (my stomach hasn't seen the sun in years), tanned arms and most of my face (from driving with the top down in general) and burned shoulders and part of my thighs.

Now, I'm sure that I'm not the first person who has put on a bathing suit without having an even tan. However, I was definitely not comfortable with how I looked. Not that I love the way I look in a bathing suit to start with. The tricolor skin didn't help.

When I was younger, I dreamed of the perfect tan. I dreamed of an all-over (well, not completely all over) even tan. Not a burn. But, as I said, I have fair skin. It's VERY hard to put on just the right amount of sunscreen to get tan but not burn. To cover your skin evenly and at all the edges. Virtually impossible.

I've only done it once. Once in 47 years. I was in a beach house in the '80s for a few summers. One of those summers, I got down to the beach fairly often. And then at the end of the summer, I was there for almost 2 weeks. I ended up with a golden tan. It was classic. All-over. Even. And apparently, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

In these days of warnings about skin cancer. it's less of a dream to have a perfect tan. These days, I can go for a whole summer with almost no time in the sun. And that's probably a good thing.

But I still dream of that perfect tan.