Ack! Mosquitoes!

How can I possibly be grateful for mosquitoes, nasty, annoying little things that they are! Here they are so small that you don’t even know that the nasty little vampires are sucking you dry until you find yourself absently scratching away at various body parts. Even more annoying, they NEVER bite Bryce, but seem to hone in on my tender skin! I have been good about this for the past few days, honest I have, trying my best to be grateful while I am concentrating ever so hard on not scratching. If I can just make it through the first half hour, the itching eventually settles down, and becomes at least tolerable. I bought a little bottle of rubbing alchohol to dab on the itchy spots, which seems to help take most of the itch away. 

Bryce, the ever so well prepared outdoorsman comes handily prepared with all manner of bug repellant, but, being a purist, I simply refuse to slather that horrid poison all over my skin. I find it hard to believe that Deet is safe, particularly since it smells so bad!

However, after enduring two days of being eaten alive, I overheard someone say that Dengue fever is bad in the area with all the mosquitoes. Say, what? Here I thought that those pesky things were just a nuisance, completely oblivious that they could be infecting me with a horrible infectious tropical disease…..not exactly what I have in mind to bring back from our trip to paradise!

So, as I slather the dreaded poison all over my body, one more time I admit to my darling husband that he is right, which I am sure he will never let me live down. Meanwhile, I am trying my hardest to think of what I am thankful for in this very itchy circumstance.

Okay, I know that bugs are needed for the health of the ecosystem, I’m sure that mosquitoes are a delicacy for some fabulous tropical bird. I can’t imagine what else they could possibly be good for! I’m grateful for, shall I say it through gritted teeth: Deet! ARGHH! Poison on my body, gross, I can’t stand the smell of it, it makes my eyes water, just the thought of it is gross! I’m grateful that I’m sleeping inside a condo with (mostly) good screens and not sleeping on a park bench somewhere where mosquitoes would be the least of my problems!.....and I’m grateful that there is good medical treatment easily available if I should come down with Dengue fever! (The incubation stage is between 3 and 7 days, so I’ll know in a week if I have to be grateful should I get Dengue fever!!)