Skin envy

"Hasn't she got such a great tan?" they said " I wish I had a tan like hers"
I smiled the smile you reserve for when you don't want to reply because you know your response is probably a little on the harsh side.

On a less smiley day my response would have been
"Tia's skin tone is not the result of a tan. (Though yes she will tan, because we all tan when we've been in the sun.....)It is the result of being bi racial. I don't know if you can get that from a tanning studio."

That said, I think the woman's comment was just a way of saying "I like your daughter's skin tone", which I guess is fair enough really. She was clearly into tanning her skin, so maybe it was a bit of jovial skin envy. There was a compliment in there, so I didn't need to open my mouth and be all militant and silly.

Its just that I don't understand the whole tanning thing. Well I wouldn't, would I? I used to have friends who spent hours in the sun and then put their arm against mine to show how they were "catching me up" (or something). I'd then show them the palm of my hand, which was still darker than their well earned tan. As they got all crestfallen and discouraged, I'd gently reassure them and say

"Perhaps its just that you're competing with the wrong person."