Everyone's Free to Wear Sunscreen...and They Should!!!

This is my friendly service announcement.

I usually don't put my opinions on here like this, but this is one that I ULTIMATELY AND TRULY BELIEVE IN!!!

With summer in full bloom, the kiddie pool set up in the back yard and the kids wanting to constantly go and play with which ever neighbor has their pool set up, I feel like I am constantly smelling of sunscreen (good thing that smell doesn't make me vomit). Each morning we have our ritual of them putting on their bathing suits and having them adjust said bathing suit while mommy sprays or slathers on about a half a cup on each child. I should have invested stock in Banana Boat or Coppertone years ago.

I remember watching a talk show a couple of years ago that said you should put at least a shot glass full of sunscreen on each bambino every time you lotion up. Since our temperatures outside are currently in the triple digits and we live in a high altitude area, it isn't practical to wear a long-sleeve shirt as recommended by authorities. So we go by way of the sunscreen.

In my younger and stupider years, I believed that in order to get a great base for a tan, I needed to burn once and then let it fade into golden skin that I could work on for the rest of the summer. Oh how naive I was!!! I even used to visit tanning salons in hopes of getting that radiant summer glow.

Several years ago I dared to venture into a tanning salon once again. I went in, paid my money for my time and said I wanted 15 minutes. Unbeknownst to me, they had changed tanning beds (what did I know, it had been YEARS since my last visit) and 15 minutes was the FULL amount of time. The last time I had visited a tanning salon, the minimum start time was 15 minutes. I walked out of the salon feeling like a younger and more vibrant woman. Until I sat in my hot car to go home. I cried and winced in pain the entire way home. Upon arriving home, I inspected my newly "tanned" body in the mirror only to discover that I had "grill marks" up and down my entire body. That was the last time I ever tanned and the first time I decided to embrace my grandma whiteness.

I am now passing that onto my daughters. I have freckles and moles all over my body where I continually sunburned as a child and a teenager. I am preventing their creamy, beautiful skin from the signs of aging and wear. My mom was recently diagnosed with a patch of skin cancer. I am scared to death of having the same thing, especially now that I know the dangers and that I can prevent it from happening. I avoid being in the sun like the plague. Even when the opportunity arises that I do go into the sun, you can hear me toting the importance of sunscreen and how having a sunburn is just not worth it.

Each year I go on a trip to a local hot springs, unless I am pregnant or nursing a baby, and each year I tell all of the girls that they need to slather up. They usually ignore my pushing. Guess who is the only one who sleeps well in the evenings after we have been in the sun. Go on, guess.

So please, for the love of all that is holy, put on sunscreen today.