Now that summer has come to a close and we begin our journey into the heart of the Autumn months things begin to take a change. As the weather starts to pick up a chill on the wind, the nights grow longer, and harvest colors dance across the trees I thought it would be a perfect time to share one last tale from summer before we jump into pumpkins, warm fires, and cider under the moon.
This summer brought many new and exciting changes into my life that I am ever thankful to have had to opportunity to experience. One of which was the forming of our very small local pod of mer-people. Here on the year-round sun-kissed shores of Southern California we are a common people as the weather here is prime mermaiding weather. We benefit from no really having an “off season” where we must hang up our tails till snow melts or any other extreme weather. Yes, our waters do get a bit chilling in the cooler months causing us to trade in soft sands for heated pools, but we are lucky enough to be able to take a splash all year long if the mood strikes. And because of this many merfolk are drawn to the area. If you do a search you can find a good deal of them. So, then why do I say our local pod is so small?
Well you see, while in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas you can throw a pebble in the water and hit several at once, we are just a bit north of the prime mermaid territories. The southern pods are large, but here in our county there are just a couple of us. Our pod consists of about five of us total, but more of then not it is just two or three of us and our mertenders splashing around.
Throughout the summer one of our local members made a habit of weekly featuring one of our safe, sheltered, swimming beaches in the mornings every Sunday. I had the pleasure of being able to join him for a couple of these swims in the later half of the summer and we had lots of fun. When you are swimming in live water the workout is completely different that the experience of getting your fins wet in a swimming pool. So, there we were, bobbing and splashing in the waves as we raced up and down the soft beach in the summer sun. As the days would start to progress from early morning into early afternoon the little ones would show up to build castles on the sand or wade in the shallows with their parents. I cannot even begin to explain the warm feeling you get when you catch the light in their eyes the first time they spot the pod out in the water.
First, there is a shocking disbelief. Both parent and child stare in disbelief, because they really aren’t sure what they are seeing. Next comes the excited yelling as the wee one realizes what they are looking at and Mom or Dad waves with a big smile on their face. Once we hear the excitement we know that is our queue. With grace and practiced movements we do our best to navigate our way in to shore to greet the eagerly awaiting people as they rush to grab their phones to snap away for photographs of the unexpected treat of meeting live mer-people on a trip to the beach.
And that is the true magic in it. While, many of us do it for the great core and cardio work out we receive with our dolphin kick. The biggest treat, at least for me, is seeing the magic light up peoples eyes. Sharing a smile with someone is a powerful thing and you never know how it will may effect someone’s day.
My Faerie Kingdom 