Have you ever been badly sun or wind burned? I mean so painful you thought with luck you might be dead by midnight? My memories of our family’s first Myrtle beach vacation are mixed. One is pleasure of playing on the beach and in the surf. The other is the pain of what the sun’s rays did to two fair-skinned kids. Those UV rays, to two adolescents, were ultra-violent. My sister was 4, I was 7. Our parents soaked us in a cool water bath at the old Ocean Forest Hotel to take the heat out of our skin. That was about all they could do for two miserable children. Sun screen or first aid creams for sun burn had not yet been developed. We stayed in our hotel room the next two days playing games. My sister colored two coloring books. Today, most of us are aware of the dangers of skin cancer. And with sun block, you might think not many of us would be stupid enough to get sun burned. Sorry. That’s wrong. A third of adults get at least one sunburn a summer. Our risk for melanoma doubles if we’ve had just five sunburns in our lives. Sun burns are first-degree burns, right up there with thermal burns, doctors say. Particularly on cooler, cloudy days when you don’t notice the heat as much and stay outdoors longer. The clouds mask what the sun is doing to you. Those ultra-violet rays come right through the cloud cover and cook you. Wearing sunscreen, long-sleeved shirts and wide-brimmed hats protects you against UVB and UVA rays. Even if you aren’t burned, you’re probably dehydrated. Drink water or juice to replace fluids you lost from sweating out there. For burned skin:

• Soak in cool water or use a cool, wet cloth.

• Take an over-the-counter pain reliever.

• Treat itching with an OTC antihistamine cream or a spray like diphenhydramine (such as Benadryl), which helps block the inflammatory reaction.

• Apply antibiotic ointment or an aloe cream with emollients that soften and soothe your burned skin. But face it. You’re going to have a miserable 12 to 24 hours no matter what you do.

Next: The modern perils of picnicking.