Beaches are some of the most loved places on Earth because the ocean is beautiful and it's super cool to be close to it. Visiting somewhere with a beach is cool, but there's something about SoCal that makes it different than any other beaches you'll go to. Living by a SoCal beach is a whole different story...
1. You love taking your out-of-state friends to see your hometown.
Taking friends back to SoCal is taking your friends to see your home and to a tourist destination all in one!
2. You also like going home because you'll always be accepted there.
Southern California is one of the most diverse places I've ever been to, which also makes it full of people who are extremely accepting. I feel most comfortable being myself when I'm home because everybody embraces individuality rather than allowing it to make them uncomfortable.
3. You find sand in the most unexpected places... year round.
Summer, winter, fall, and spring. No matter how long it's been since you've been to the beach, it seems to never fully go away.
4. You wish you could ban all the tourists from crowding the beach because there's never any room left for locals.
We have the luxury of being able to roll out of bed one day and deciding that we want to spend some time on the sand. But what good does that do us when the beaches are full by the time we get down there?
5. You think visitors who refuse to go in the water because it's too cold are weak.
If I didn't go in the ocean every time it was unpleasantly cold while I was at the beach, I would have still never been in to this day. Sometimes you just need to suck it up and brave the cold if you want the full beach experience.
6. You probably have at least one story that you tell people about a time you got "sun poisoning" from spending a day at the beach.
Sunburn, exhaustion, nausea... most of us have experienced it after a little too much time in the sun. It's pretty much just a glorified sunburn.
7. And don't even get you started on how annoying it is to burn when it's cloudy.
A warning to all those who don't yet know this: You can still burn just as bad, if not worse, even when it's cloudy at the beach. Take it from someone who has learned from her mistakes.
8. But overall, it's OK because you kind of like the way your face looks when it's burnt.
Once you've gotten enough sunburns on your face, you start to kind of like that red glow in your cheeks that appears after you've gotten too much sun.
9. You plan to leave for places 30 minutes earlier than you have to on the weekends just in case you happen to get caught in beach traffic.
You've heard of LA traffic, but beach traffic is just as bad. You have to strategically plan your outings Friday through Sunday as to avoid getting caught in traffic caused by everybody who is all headed in the same direction: toward the coast.
10. You know what a "birdie" is.
I'll admit, this one doesn't have much of anything to do with the beach, but it is an important discussion that needs to be had. No, I'm not talking about a baby bird or that thing you use to play badminton. To let someone have a "birdie" is to allow them to have a drink of your water without touching their lips to the bottle. The rest of the country knows it as "waterfalling," but if you're from SoCal, you'll think that's just absurd.
11. You're pretty tired of getting invited to bonfires on the beach.
Birthday parties, family get-togethers, team bondings, church events... the list goes on. I can't count the number of bonfires I've been to in my life. They're cool and good ways to get to know each other, but after attending so many of them per year you start to get over them.
12. But you'll never get tired of being invited to go watch the sun go down on the sand.
It's the go-to outing when there's nothing else to do. Grabbing some takeout and a few friends and heading down to the beach to watch the sunset makes up some of my favorite memories from growing up in SoCal.
13. And no other sunsets will ever compare to the ones you've seen.
Once you've stood in the water and watched the sun set right before your eyes, you will never be impressed by another sunset anywhere else.
