I Met a Mermaid
FYI - This has nothing to do with my books, but random meetings sometimes add to my characters.
I met her in a hot tub in Manitou Springs, Colorado at the municipal swimming pool on a Monday afternoon in January. I’d walked past a silicone thing laying at the side of the pool on my way to the hot tub. It was my reward after finally getting there and doing some lap swimming. She and some friends had been splashing around while I swam, but I couldn’t tell exactly what they were doing. I expect to see school aged children playing in the pool, but not young adult women. The other two left, but she stayed with her younger brother?, tossing pool rings and toys from the hot tub to the pool for fun. She said the word mermaid at one point in our brief introductory conversation. (Hot tubs have limited space and it’s awkward to be that close and not at least say hello. It’s not like you can read a book in a hot tub to avoid conversation.)
She bought her first mermaid tail at eleven. She lived in Hawaii and was smitten when she and her friend saw a local mermaid show. They spent the rest of the summer walking dogs, selling lemonade and doing whatever they could to get enough money to buy their first tails. By September she was a proud owner of her own mermaid tail. That fall they posted a YouTube video and she hasn’t stopped since.
She told me her story, and I asked how the whole thing worked. Mermaids use a dolphin kick the same way a swimmer uses this kick with the butterfly stroke. She said reaching out in front with her hands together helps increase speed. Keeping them back alongside her body gives a more graceful look. The tail itself is powerful at propelling her through the water so she doesn’t really need her arms to gain forward motion, but they help with steering.
Getting into the tail is another story…if I run into her again I will ask for a demo.
She has upgraded since that first mermaid purchase in middle school. The tail is four feet long and over three feet wide at the tail, made of silicone with sleeves for her feet and legs. The blue and green design would blend beautifully into an ocean paradise photo. She loves swimming in it even more now, ten years later, but has some doubts about developing a mermaid career in Colorado Springs where she lives. Her original YouTube video is too old to monetize, and she spends her time improving her mermaid skills rather than her mermaid marketing plan. Here is a video of three mermaids in Hawaii. I don’t know if this is the video she did, but it gives you an idea.
She did say the Manitou Springs Pool was thinking about offering a mermaid class for those over eleven who would like to try out this “sport.” I imagine hundreds of girls begging parents to let them take the class after seeing “Little Mermaid.” They’d line up to see her swimming in the big tank at the Aquarium in Denver. Whether she decides to make “mermaiding” a career is her decision, but at a minimum, it is an amazing hobby.
It was a treat to meet a mermaid in person even if this grandma won’t be climbing into a mermaid suit any time soon. If, somehow, a pod of mermaids becomes a fixture at my favorite pool, I will go and see them.