I'm sure we have all had a bad experience in life that has caused us to fear it in the future, or try to avoid it all together. For example, have you been bitten by a dog once and now have a fear of dogs? Perhaps one year you had a horrible, blistering sunburn so now not a day goes by that you forget to apply sunscreen before going outside? I have had a similar experience, as well, that still affects me to this day. And this incident happened more than ten years ago. I never expected something so dreadfully painful would ever happen to me.

I was only about 8 years old. My family and I took a trip down to the Gulf of Florida where we had rented a beach house right on the waterfront. We could slide open the doors, and once we stepped foot outside our toes would instantly feel the warm granules of sand beneath them. This was every kids dream. The smell of the ocean and the sound of the crashing waves was so inviting. Before even experiencing the crisp, coolness of the water, I knew I would love it.

The distinct smell of sunscreen filled our noses as we generously applied the white cream to our exposed skin. Though anxious to finally be in the ocean, my sisters and I obeyed our parents and slathered it on. Once finished, we grabbed our Boogie Boards and raced outside to the ocean. As a child, I was more than ready to plunge into the unknown. Floating out in the water was absolutely magical, and I thought to myself 'Wow, I love it here! I want to come back every summer!'.

Suddenly, as I was kicking my feet to stay in proximity of my family, I felt something beneath the water. It startled me, so I quickly looked down to see what it was that I was feeling. Unfortunately, the water was dark and blue so I couldn't see a thing. I called to my parents in distress and said, "Something is touching my leg!"

Of course, my parents thought I was simply overreacting. "It's probably just seaweed," they said. I was skeptical at first, but my parents were always right, right? So I decided I would believe them and began to kick the seaweed off of my leg. I was so relieved once I could no longer feel the foreign object against my legs.

I went back to daydreaming and having fun with my family when my thoughts were interrupted by the familiar feeling of something up against my legs. I once again called to my parents telling them something was tangled around my legs again. But this time was different. This time I felt an electric, burning feeling jolt through my leg.

I screamed in pain "Ahhh! Help me! It hurts! Mom! Dad! Hurry, please help me!"

All the while, I was frantically paddling away from whatever had given me such a sharp pain. My parents swam to me as fast as they could, as I began to swim toward them and toward the shore. My worried dad scooped me up into his arms, and began to walk quickly toward our beach house. He quickly asked, "What's wrong? Where does it hurt? What happened?"

Through my tears, I was able to muster up the strength to give my parents the important information that they would need to help me to safety. I pointed to a very pink, four inch line on my lower leg and told them that it was burning. Once we were back inside the beach house, my mother and sister hastily brought me a chair to sit on and a large bucket of ice water to soak my leg in. My dad rushed to find a phone and called 9-1-1. He read off my symptoms into the receiver, as well as what the injured area looked like. After a while of listening, he turned and quickly walked away in search of something. He came back holding a credit card of some sort. He said a few more words into the phone, said, "Uh huh...thank you," and hung up.

My mom looked to my dad with worried eyes and asked "What do we do?"

My dad got down on his knees and began to explain to me what he was about to do. He told me he had to brush the side of his credit card over the long pink line on my leg to make sure nothing was left behind on my leg from whatever had harmed me. I braced myself for a bit more pain, and my dad swiped the card back and forth across my skin several times. Teary eyed, I finally asked, "Did they know what it was that might have hurt me?" My dad replied back to me, "From what it sounds like, I think you were just stung by a jelly fish."

A jellyfish? Wow! As much pain as I was feeling, I thought that was kind of cool. But it also terrified me. It wasn't seaweed that was touching my leg, it was a jellyfish! That got me thinking. What other harmful creatures could be lurking out in the water ready to injure another human being? Sharks? Giant squid?

The rest of the night, I tried to relax and forget about the pain.

The next day, although I had just had a terrible experience the previous day, I was unafraid of the ocean. I was still excited about being in Florida and getting to experience the water. I still loved it. Now and then when I take trips to swim in the ocean, I will be a little paranoid about things in the water. I will only go out so far because I fear of other unseen things in the water. I will forever remember the awful sting of the jellyfish that got me, but I will also remember the good times that happened on this family vacation.