Let's just call this day, Mama Down, but before I get into what took me all the way out, let's recap.
Our day started early with an Uber Eats breakfast from a local Miami spot. Mimi and the boys enjoyed bacon, grits, eggs and toast. I had grits and a few eggs. I like to get to the beach early to secure a good spot for our chairs and umbrella. Mimi is still holding down the fort and yet to get as much as her feet wet (Mimi on the right). The boys and I spent hours in the water until lunchtime. A highlight of our beach trips is having lunch on the beach, chilling for a while and then getting back in the water.
It was great for about two more hours. We started making our way out of the water. I was literally two steps from the dry sand when a sharp pain went through my thigh and down my leg. Somebody call Jesus because as soon as my boys heard me scream out, "Oh shiitake!" they both walked on water getting up outta there. I've been stung by jellyfish before, but this was the worst pain I've felt. It felt like a thousand sharp needles up and down my leg. I had big, red whelps and I couldn't walk for a bit. Not at all how the day was supposed to end. I took some Advil, rubbed on some Benadryl cream and kept our plans to stroll South Beach, even though my thigh was on fire.
Oh, the air is constantly filled with an ocean breeze and the smell of Mary Jane. The kiddos found that vinegar removes the stingers, which are microscopic and in by the hundreds. Mama down. Salt water activates the venom, so I had to stay out of the ocean for a day and a half. Still grateful we're finally out here enjoying ourselves.
Editor's Note: This blog was published in 2022 but written in 2021 to capture our first beach trip after the panorama. Unfortunately, I got sick after returning to Atlanta, and I didn't discover that I had never published one of the family's best beach vacations. So here they are in all their year-late glory.