Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Sometimes you just have to . . .

Last week our family spent a few days at the Outer Banks of NC. We only live about 1.5 hours away, but we don't get down there as much as we'd like. In fact, we've only been over night at OBX a few times in the 11 years that we've been this close.

I'm one of those people that loves to play on the beach and play in the ocean but I am a little picky. I don't like getting all sandy and have to live being sandy for hours on end. I like to leave as much sand on the beach and not take it with me.

Also, when I play in the ocean, I don't like seaweed and sea creatures rubbing on my legs and I certainly don't want to see any sea creatures. If I do, I'm out. Something chewing, biting, stinging or stabbing me on a sneak attack is not my idea of fun.

So, our last day on the beach looked great. The water was warmer (it had been 57F) and the waves were bigger (which meant more fun!). One problem - jellyfish! I mean, loads of jellyfish. You couldn't look in the water and not see jellyfish. If you were walking down the beach, there were jellyfish on the shore like seashells. I'd never seen so many jellyfish.

It seemed that the cold water had killed most or all that we saw. So, what do you do? Perfect conditions, except for the jellyfish. That's a pretty big except in my book. Imagine putting five or six of those things in your bathtub and then getting in - yep, now you have the picture.

Believe it or not, we sucked it up, played scared and swam with the jellyfish. We had a blast! I mean, we had those things all over us. I don't know how many I stepped on (felt like stepping on a banana peel).

It might have been the most fun I've ever had. I imagine the adventure with the jellyfish added to it. However, we almost missed out because we were afraid. I wonder, how many great adventures we miss out on because we are afraid?

Now, before you go too far, we weren't stupid. We noticed that no one else was writhing in pain, so we assumed those things weren't stinging people. So we tested it. We went in shallow water, allowed them to bump into us and us not get stung, before we went out deeper.

We did end up with some 'tingly' sensations from time to time, but it was well worth it.

What about you? What are you missing out on because you are afraid?

Sometimes you just have to swim with jellyfish!