A Jelly to Remember

To Science, jellyfish or jellies are soft-bodied, free-swimming aquatic animals with a gelatinous umbrella-shaped bell and trailing tentacles. To health-conscious individuals, dried jellyfish contains a lot of calcium-binding proteins which can help improve memory. But to my 2-year old son, jellyfish is an experience worth remembering.

Last May of this year, our family went to Bohol ( my husband's hometown ) for a reunion. Since we all love the beach, we decided to spend a day swimming and playing under the sun unmindful of other living things that might harm us, jellyfish perhaps. While we were busy preparing the food, my 11-year old nephew went crying. "Something bit me", he cried. Another nephew shouted, "naay bukya" ( bukya is the visayan term for jellyfish ). Knowing jellyfish to have painful toxins in their tentacles, though not all of them, we all stayed out of the beach for a while.!

It was the first time my little boy heard about jellyfish. Can you imagine the curiosity? The why's and how's?
The funniest thing was, after his encounter with the "bukya", he had his stories to tell. Like, " naligo mi ug dagat, daghan bukya" ( We went to the beach. There are many jellyfish).

Indeed, experience is the best teacher. It was "A Jelly to Remember".

                              (My husband's family)

The little boy is my son.