The World of Mermaids


“You know, mermaids aren’t real. They are fictional creatures!” A more level-headed friend once said to me. I shook my head and responded with, “Are you sure? You know, there was this one time at an aquarium where a seven year old girl set me straight! Now, I happen to believe she might just be right. Mermaids do exist!”

The friend looked at me and gave me a quizzical grin as if to say she was intrigued by what I was going to say next or that she thought I was certifiably living in a fairytale world inside my head. I didn’t care though. I could definitely say that the little girl was on the right track to something. She was not just educating me about mermaids. Oh no, she was educating two other little girls around her about the magic of mermaids and that they are real creatures. She went through the ins and out of their lives and where they live and how they can breathe in and out of water. I felt like an imposter being an adult eavesdropping on their magical conversation. The other two little girls were intently focused on learning all they could, with eyes peeled wide.

The amount of knowledge she had about mermaids in her brain was definitely commendable. It’s like she had a whole library in her mind all about mermaids. I have to admit my adult brain almost told me to jump in and say something, anything, to somehow seem hip and cool and all knowing about mermaids, but that seven year old definitely had it covered. She knew her stuff. So, I just sat there feeling mesmerized at the underwater world she was telling us all about. She even went into the food they ate and how they combed their hair.

“They eat clams and seaweed. And they make friends with Octopus creatures and get them to detangle their hair!” She exclaimed, her eyes brightening as she continued to speak. I was amazed. I wondered as I sat there where she found out her information, so I decided to become brave and venture into the conversation with mermaid like confidence.

I said, “Wow, you know so much about mermaids! How do you know all those things?” I pleaded, truly wanting to know more.

She quipped back almost immediately, eager to tell me, “Oh, all kinds of places. I have some books about them and there are several internet sites that will tell you all about them!” I was stopped in my tracks and quite delighted at hearing her continue to ramble on as then proceeded to educate the other girls about what were the best websites they could go to, in order to find out more.

As I stood there staring into the big aquarium tank watching colorful fish and sharks swim around, I found myself secretly hoping that a mermaid would pop out behind some of the bigger artificial rocks and coral. I wanted to believe in the magic of mermaids up close and personal.

After daydreaming about the moment at the local aquarium, I then decided I would tell my friend just how real mermaids actually were, and try to open her mind up a little. I must have been a bit overzealous in my approach, because halfway through my speaking I noticed her glazed over look of half amusement and half admittance of how ridiculous she thought I was being.

“Okay, okay, I know mermaids aren’t real, but can’t we pretend they are, at least for the moment? It makes me feel like the world could somehow be a better place.” I responded to somehow appease her lack of interest.

She replied with, “Sure, okay.” The lack of excitement told me that I should change the subject and so we did. We changed it to something more practical like the weather.

Then like most occurrences in my life where I recognize I am in my own little world, I decided to smile to myself and think back to the conversation on the day I visited the aquarium and definitely got a wonderful memory with the purchase of my ticket! Then I was happy for the rest of the day!