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.

Mermania!

I believe there comes a time in everyone's life where they are faced with a question:  Do I continue to do the fun things that everyone around me is saying I'm too old for or do I ignore the naysayers and continue enjoying myself?

This could apply to anything from hairstyle (too long, purple, whatever) to a particular activity (comic books, video games, Star Trek conventions, etc.) or sport you like to participate in (Mom!  Grandpa took my skateboard again!)

This past weekend I attended Mermania 2016, a mermaid convention in Greensboro, North Carolina.  A what?  Yes, a mermaid convention in which I dressed as a mermaid, swam with mermaids (both professional and non), talked/sang/played/danced and hugged with mermaids.

The pool was too cold for me to swim much (I have cold-induced urticaria - a literal allergy to cooler temperatures) but I was surrounded by so much warmth it didn't matter.   It was one of the best weekends I've had in a very long time.

Wait.  How old are you?, you might ask.  This blog is admittedly written by a senior.  Yeah.  I guess.  But it hurts to admit to the chronology when my soul has somehow - through child-raising, hardships, bouts of depression, responsible home ownership, a stable career and a credit score over 800 - retained so much of the child within.

Perhaps this is what has kept me going all these years.  I don't have much truck with Muggles. My home was always open to D&D games. I read and write fantasy novels.  I enjoy sci-fi, fairies, the Renn Faire, and dressing up for LOTR and Star Wars movies.  I own Star Trek and Tinkerbell pajamas.  I've attended Who Con, sci-fi cons, Comicon, and Harry Potter weekends.  But by far my favorite was/is Mermania.

I wasn't the only young soul in attendance.  Merfolk come in all ages, sizes, shapes, colors, genders, and sexual preferences.  None of it matters.  We are all together, tailed and glittering.

The fact is, I believe that none of this matters IN LIFE.  But when we walk the streets in our various and sundry "real faces" it's less easy to recognize that we are all one.  We focus on our differences "out there".

If only we could look at the world as one big "Human Con" we might enjoy more of the love, respect, and camaraderie that I enjoyed this weekend in pink wig, seashells, glitter, and tail.  Proud to be a "Mermom".