Thursday, January 26, 2017

Mermaids Do Exist

Ever since I saw Mermaid Lagoon in Peter Pan I've been in love with mermaids.  Pretty, long-haired sirens enjoying their lives in the sun beside the tranquil ocean seemed like the most idyllic existence imaginable. And ooooooh, the colors!  Long red hair, or maybe blue, violet, or green.  No rules!  Iridescent tails like liquid rainbows.  And seashells.  I absolutely love sea shells and have been collecting them since childhood.  (Thank Neptune my recent home has a garage.  Yes, my collection has gotten that big.)

Five years ago I sat in front of my laptop and saw a post about a mermaid convention in Florida.  My reaction was this:

A MERMAID CONVENTION!?  (Picture shouting, dancing, and jumping for joy.)

I booked a flight immediately.  I didn't know a single real live mermaid but I was bound and and determined to meet one.

That first venture was solo but I made friends and now attend another convention in Greensboro, North Carolina -  NCMermania - on a regular basis.  Held annually at the Greensboro Aquatic Center (GAC), NCMermania is a gathering of professional mermaids, mermaid wannabes, and mermaid enthusiasts from all over the world.  The variety of the people who attend this even can only be exceeded by the variety of the creative costumes and tails displayed.


And that's one thing I especially love about the real mermaids.   If you were there you would have seen mermaids and mermen of all shapes, sizes, colors, lifestyles, and genders, all swimming side by side, splashing and playing as happily as any Disney movie mermaid.

Would that the real, real world would take a dive into getting along this well.

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