Since moving to Delaware last year, the hot summer weather between June and August has been unbearable. It’s a lot hotter in the summer months in Delaware than when I was growing up in West Virginia, and I believe that’s because Delaware has a humid subtropical climate, which means it’s a lot hotter than it is in many states. I know many people enjoy sweating unbearably in the hot summer sun, but I’d much rather be inside where it’s air-conditioned, and hey, at least it helps me avoid getting a bad sunburn.

Many people love swimming in the summer, but I haven’t enjoyed it since childhood. One of the main reasons that I hate swimming is that I haven’t felt comfortable wearing a swimsuit for many years. Another annoying thing about swimming in the ocean or pools is how the water ends up making my hair disgusting and unbearable to deal with. Since I have naturally wavy hair even after showering after being in a chlorinated swimming pool, brushing out my hair after showering is completely irritating because it is always very tangled. So instead of swimming in the pool or in the ocean during the summer I prefer to spend my time in the shade reading a book.

Delaware has beaches, but unlike most states, we don’t have public swimming pools, which is why I consider myself lucky. But beaches during tourist season are difficult to visit during the daytime unless you visit them after 4:00 P.M., and that’s because the beaches here are always overcrowded with tourists. But not only that, we are also forced to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic while getting to the beaches which makes even the idea of going to them during the summer months completely unbearable at times. Don’t get me wrong, as a girl who always enjoyed going on family beach trips every summer, I’ve always loved the beach, but I don’t enjoy going to them if they’re overcrowded.

One of the worst parts about going to the beach in the summer is when a person has their dog with them and their dog isn’t on a leash. As a person who has always disliked dogs, I find it annoying when I’m in public somewhere, and out of nowhere, I see someone’s giant dog racing towards me, and then they decide to jump on me. Not everyone wants to have a thirty-or-more-pound dog jumping on them when they’re just trying to walk outside. Dog owners tend to say, “My dog is always friendly,” after their dog jumps on someone, but what if the dog accidentally bites you when it’s trying to knock you over after jumping on you?

Aside from summer being the season when people are sweating profusely, it is also the time of year when insects like mosquitoes, wasps, and bees decide to sting people. Being covered in bug bites during the summer is very uncomfortable because it leaves us itchy, and the only way to resolve the itching is to use an anti-itching cream like hydrocortisone. But there was nothing more frightening when I was younger than having an ice-cold can of pop or (soda) when all of a sudden, a tiny enemy with black and yellow stripes would try to fly into it. No matter how many times I’d try to swat the bee away, he would only return seconds later because he was trying to fly into the pop can to taste the nice, sweet sensation of a Coca-Cola or whatever other iced cold pop I was drinking at the time. Here’s a fun fact regarding that: “Apparently, the only reason bees want to take a sip of your soda is because sometimes there are no flowers nearby to pollinate.”

Well, in case you were wondering, there are a few things that I enjoy about summer other than going to the beach, like eating ice cream and going on picnics. Some of my favorite memories, when I was growing up, were spent at Dairy Queen eating ice cream after my sister, and I were done playing at the playground. There is nothing more enjoyable to eat in the summer than an ice cream cone, even if it’s dripping down your arm while you’re eating it.

I also love going on picnics in the summer, but only if they take place at a picnic table underneath a tree because if you’re not in the shade on a hot summer day, sitting and having a picnic can become unbearable. Some of my favorite things to eat during a picnic are sandwiches, chips, granola bars, fruit snacks, and crackers, but if you don’t have time to pack a picnic lunch, then you could always pick up food at a local restaurant and take it to a nearby park to eat it.

This was written by our co-founder and editor, Hanna Perry.