Blessed by cloud cover

I've just returned from an 11-mile run along the beach that was wonderfully free of sunshine. I don't much like the sun. I do realize it gives us food and life, and that most Westerners soak it up every chance they get. But for me, as prone to freckling as I am, the sun is an environmental hazard. I tan in about 5 minutes, and these freckles that people deem so cute are PERMANENT.

To combat the freckling and the unwanted tanning, I wear sunblock every day, SPF 45, even in the winter. The only time I relax that rule is when I leave LA, because the sun doesn't seem to shine quite as harshly elsewhere. My three years in Baltimore were an excellent hiatus for my skin. Even in Taiwan, which is closer to the equator, I can spend a summer and come back paler. Over there, people have the right idea. The women carry umbrellas around to shade themselves from the sun.

Sometimes I'll see a picture of myself as a child, and I'll marvel at the freckle-less face and get sad. I've even gone so far as to get some freckles burned off, years ago. Pretty unpleasant, and it didn't do much good.

Wish that more people in the Western world were anti-sun like me, because then there would be a bigger market for sunblocking technologies. Scientists would design these little clouds that could follow you around and provide a nice spot of shade wherever you go. Or they would invent some kind of permanent sunblock that you could tattoo on or something.

Epilogue: Despite the nice cloud cover and cool temps this morning, I still got a freakin' tan. And probably helped along a couple of as-yet unborn freckles.