Trading Everything #4- Trading Waters -a painful introduction

 Part of the reality of trading everything is that the waters where you grew up may not be the waters you are going to.
  Dan, our youngest son, had arrived in Australia after having travelled in China, Japan and New Zealand. Going back to Canada wasn't really an option because of course there was another family living in our house now. Dan was familiar with swimming in fresh water lakes and ponds but meeting the ocean was a bit of an eye opener for him.

From the emails:

 Yesterday I got Dan up before 6 am for a beach walk at dawn. Once again the beach was littered with washed up blue bottle jellyfish. At one point there was a loud pop and Dan asked if I'd stepped on one. It turned out that he had and it was stuck to his heel. He scraped it off in the sand with no ill effects. Shortly after he announced that he was never going in the water because he didn't know what was going to be in there. This commitment lasted until one of his new buddies came over with an extra surf board and an offer to show him how to use it. His buddy Tim told him to wear board shorts which he didn't have so he borrowed mine. Board shorts are longish and have no liner. They have net pockets so that the water will drain. My shorts were a little loose on him but otherwise fine. Dan was still a bit reluctant, his last words before heading out were,"I'm going to die".
  Well he didn't die but he got a rude introduction to the ocean. As he was paddling on his surf board a blue bottle jellyfish managed to slide up his pant leg and lodge itself between the pocket liner and his thigh. He danced around the shore in pain and ended up using his hands to pry it off. His hands were now stung. His buddy was also stung on the foot.
 Apparently the lure of the surf must be a strong one as he is eyeing up a body board to head out again today.

and later...

 So after his jellyfish experience, Dan had a shower and hung the board suit up to dry. Today a neighbour invited us for some drinks and a swim in their pool. I grabbed the now dry "swimmers" and put them on. Somehow those barbs remained potent in the suit. By the time my body had convinced my mind that in fact this could be taking place, my hand, forearm and thigh were burning and starting to welt up red. Oh well, off to drink some wine and swell up by their pool.