I came to love mermaids quite accidentally. The Little mermaid wasn’t even my favorite Disney movie, or finding Nemo or any mystical mermaid movie, though I do have to say I did like the thirteenth year (If you are a nineties kid, you know what movie I am talking about).
I did and do love the ocean. As a kid living in the mountains, I loved the day trips we would take to the Maine Coast. And on those days we couldn’t get away, I made do with Jackson Falls, which had rocks and secluded pools you could lay out in the sun basking in its rays. It wasn’t the ocean, but it was water.
I use to joke that I was even getting my water fix when I would skate, and I loved nothing more then skating outside on a pond or lake during the winter.
It is ironic my sign is air, because water fits me much better. I am water. It is my meditation.
Even now living in New York, I try to escape to Brighton Beach during the summer, and my running routes revolve around the East River or the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis reservoir in Central park.
Just by breathing in the air, puts me a meditative mood.
Whenever I go home, most of my days are spent at the ocean, no matter the time of year. New Years Eve, I spent it sea glass hunting(more on that later) Two days before I was suppose to fly home, while New york was bracing for Jonas, and it was below freezing in New Hampshire, I made my way to Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. And literally one of my favorite places. It was still freezing, and ironically I wasn’t the only crazy person out there.
Sylvia Earle said, “Everytime I slip into the ocean, it’s like going home.”
It is true. I know the way to Maine by heart now, because it is where my heart is. And every time I start to see the marshes, and the sea grass comes into view, my mood gets lighter, my heart fills with joy and I know I am home.
