When I was a child I lived in the desert, the high mountain desert of Wyoming, and spent summers at 10,000 feet in snow and tundra. But somehow, I wanted to grow up and be a dolphin. At first I went through a phase of being very angry that my parents had not named me flipper, then when I talked the two of them, who were both so afraid of water that they held on to the towel rack all the way through their bath, into signing me up for swim lessons, I spent hours swimming underwater, pretending to be the mermaid I knew I would grow up to be. And that was years before Disney showed me there could be redheaded mermaids. Ariel came to the big screen the year I started teaching and I took my first class to the theater to see her.
From there I decided that what I needed to become was a dolphin trainer, working with my beloved animals at Marine Land or sea World. I know that there has been a lot of negativity toward the idea of the marine mammals being trained and kept captive. I am sure that some of those complaints are justified but I firmly believe that humans only save what they care about, and only care about what they know. I don’t think there would be people making films like Blackfish, or Free Willie, or doing things to try to ban the slaughter in the wild of those incredible creatures, if there had not been a place where children like I was, could press our hands to the glass and see the dolphin making eye contact or see the killer whale begging us to play.
So we have learned, and need to change as we grow, but that does not mean we could have ever gotten to the point of caring without the zoos and Aquariums which turned the animals real in the minds of those of us who care, not just about animals in general but about the death of one specific Orca named Keiko and the happiness of a sealion named Red and the friendship of Flipper.
No, I didn't grow up to be a dolphin or a Mermaid or even a dolphin trainer, but I teach children every bit as funny as Flipper and I live by the Sea, and more than once I stood eye to eye with Keiko and shared a glimpse of similar souls
Love your story and its so honest of you to tell it- you must have loved swimming as I did - the weightlessness and the freedom. We saw a super show in Valencia with lots of dolphins who were absolutely magnificent and really looked as they were so enjoying what they did!
What a strong and fabulous image of yourself as a child holding this oh-so-specific and beautiful idea in your mind. I never thought about mermaid babies, but clearly that is EXACTLY what they look like.
Apparently I was a little fish too! And I do love dolphins! I love your story and the picture to go with it. Childhood is often labeled as the time when we should dream, but you found a way to bring those dreams along with you. (o:
