Why are Merfolk important to YOU?

[Delphine]

Hey, mers. So, as part research and part fun for my Project Delphine (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?3769-Project-Delphine-An-Artist-s-transformation-from-Girl-to-Mermaid-on-Kickstarter) I have that lovely question for you. Please, feel free to post the first things that pop into your head, or be as elaborate as you wish. I'm trying to understand other people's relationship with mermaids & mermen, from people who are fans (you awesome people), to the everyday Joe and Jane. And of course, in this process, I'm finding out what mermaids mean to me and how to get them to resonate with everyone.

<3Delphine

[Morticia Mermaid]

Other~ Because I feel more at peace and at home in the water. That feeling is only amplified when wearing a mermaid tail :)

[MerAnthony]

I would agree with you Lexia. When in a tail there is nothing in the world that bothers you.

[SeaGlass Siren]

Being in water is just very therapeutic for me. add a tail and bam! 10 times the level of therapeutic-ness (? clearly not a word)

[Odette]

There is many reasons.i picked the two closest for your poll
to go more in depth, i like swimming alot with and without a tail. .i train like a competitive swimmer and like the grace of synchronized swimming.I add them onto the mermaid experience to make a unique performance.(I really need to start taking video of that.lol)

I like to make costumes and props. the mermaid tails i make are so much work and i like to make it with my own spin.no one has made a tail like i make mine. i have never seen a tutorial similar to mine or anything.some of the stuff i use seems like a bad idea but works well.

I'm into the science and beauty of water and the organisms who reside in it. hydrodynamics,ichthyology,biology,marine ethology,all that stuff and the way the ocean feels. especially at night. its a big,unbeknown,black viod you enter and you can feel the creatures moving around you in that pure darkness. and seeing these little blue lights fading and glowing near you is so magical. being part fish makes me feel more like i can relate to the creatures that i love and protect.

Good luck with your tail, Delphine!

[Thalassa]

I like to be in the water, but I didn't like to swim (I could do it well at all) until I started training with a monofin. I love to swim in my tail!

My main reason for mermaiding, though, is to work with kids. I'm a teacher by profession, so I WORK with kids all the time, but as a mermaid I get to just play! I have lots of fun and love to see the amazement and happiness in the kids' eyes. :-)

[Nyx]

To be honest, all of these reasons XD

[Merman_Ryan]

Escapism and it makes me feel better about myself.

[Gem Stone]

I ended up with four answers but my reason for other is because my whole life I've been told work and you can be this or do that for a few years and you can one day master and make tons of money and etc. well mermaids, in my view, have a simpler lower stress life and putting on a tail helps me pretend that the world is ok and the only thing I have to worry about is how far away is the surface for my next breath? I guess like Ryan said, it's my escape from the world

[Mer_Adella]

Other- I honestly do believe that there might be mermaids in the ocean. what is it something like this world is 70% water...and all different kinds of whales, sharks, giant octopi and squids are being discovered lately. How can we be too sure that something human size isn't just hiding out. Its kind of my way to know how ti feels ....plus i have always loved water and this is a new expereience for me

[Mermaid Wesley]

I swear if mermaids exist i am part mermaid. Not the swimming skill because... lets be honest. Im not great. But I have never been araid of the ocean and EVERYONE on my mom's side as far back as I can tell has surfed, swam etc. My uncles all surf we all live near the ocean, and my mom has a sense of direction based off the direction of the ocean. I can swim out to the buoys at the beach without being afraid and the only time i have trouble swimming in the ocean is when i have to carry something.(like a waterpolo ball... long story) I remember the first time I went in the ocean(past the shoreline) My aunt took me out and we jumped over the waves. I was so happy... This is my first memory i think i was like 5 or 6.

[Merrow Fair Isle]

On Jan 26th 2010 I fell, down icy concrete steps, while on my way to work. My feet flew up over my head and my spine came down full force on the edge of the bottom step...then I bounced off, landing on my bottom, before collapsing completely. The pain was so bad that these was no screaming, no writhing...just vomit. I don't remember much of the next few hours, but remember very clearly being unable to move my legs. MRI showed fractures at L4 and L5...5 bulging discs, 2 of which were torn and leaking, a completely compressed nerve bundle. Was taken to surgery...what could be done was, but nobody knew what that meant. Not the doctors, not the nurses, not the therapists. I spiraled into a depression. I couldn' t walk, I couldn't even sit. I lost a 14 year career in 14 seconds. I was married only a year at the time, and couldn't be intimate with the husband I saved myself over 30yrs for. Life had gone from wonderful to completely unrecognizable .

The next two years were the hardest of my life. My husband left the workforce to care for me. He became my nurse, physical therapy assistant, chaufer, personal styist, shower/bath boy, and glorified tooshy cleanliness technician. He also never made me embarrassed or helpless. He reminded me everyday that just before wewerecmarried we hiked Columbia Gorge....and made me believe we would do it again.

18 months in and I was still unable to walk. My husband suggested aqua therapy. It was a miraculous turn around. After 6 months, I was walking, clothing myself. The water made me strong...it soothed my pain, held me up, pushed back, and built new muscles. The water was the miracle. I was 100% at home in the water...no pain, no fear...no lumbering awkwardness. I was me. I belonged in the water.

This past summer, my husband and I went down t Florida to visit my family for the first time since my fall. I was able to walk down that jetway on my own,wearing sandals I had buckled myself...right into my mothers arms. The next day we went to my favorite place in the whole world...a small spring alive with fish in the heart of the Ocala National Forrest. Silver Glen Springs. And I swam.....and swam, and swam, and chased the fish, and turned over rocks looking for crayfigh and snails. At some point during that afternoon my husbandscooped me up out of the water and said to me " You may never climb a mountain, but you will,ALWAYS be my mermaid.". And in that sweet , quiet, perfect moment , a dream was born.

Mermaids are important to me because water gave me a second chance and a new life. I owe water everything that I am today, and feel more myself while swimming than any time on land. I crave my 90 minutes a day within the pool...I need it. It's almost an addiction.

[Thalassa]

Merrow...that is one of the most adorable stories I've ever heard. We have so many inspirational mers here! :-)

[Mermaid Wesley]

you gave me chills!

[Delphine]

Thank you all of you for your responses! Escapism and belief are just two of my own. Wow, Merrow. That's amazing as amazing can be! There is something to be said of the connection between water and life, and we our selves are mostly made up of water, too. Anyone else is welcome to share their views and stories, as well. :)

[SeaGlass Siren]

My dad is a Vietnamese boat person and was "saved" by dolphins, but i think i've overtold that story xp

Long story short, if the dolphins didn't lead my father to land, he would've died and i wouldn't have been born.

The saying that "the Ocean is the mother of all life" from the sci-fi short story 'Adam and no Eve' by Alfred Bester holds some truth. :)

so i guess i owe the ocean.

[Delphine]

Thank you, mermaidandrea for your story, as well. Anyone else have a tale to share? Or if you'd like to still vote, by all means, please do. I'd like to leave the voting open. It seems right now there's an exact tie between:



Well, I love all things in the ocean, Merfolk are part of that. (55.56%)





Because I love to swim & enjoy it more this way. (55.56%)

[Evangeline]

Other: Yes because they are magical, but powers has nothing to do with it. Magic, something to still believe in, in this horrid world. Something rare to see, and enjoy. A secret to keep. Something to make even old people smile after all the different wars this world has gone through.

[Mermaid Julianne]

Other: When I'm a mermaid, god it's like I've opened my eyes for the first time. The world just melts away, and it me and the water. It's just... magic. I can't even describe it. If I had gills, I would never come back up. All my stress disappears, and I can be me, the person that I feel I need to hide from the world. And in this community, while I've just joined it, I feel acceptance. We all believe in something that may not exist, but we make it exist, for anyone who wants to believe. When I hear stories of mers going to pools and putting smiles on kids' faces and making their day, it puts a smile on my face.

Did that answer your question?

[Mermaid Annariea]

i voted for all of them except "they are magical, have powers, etc". but only because having powers or not doesn't matter to me. magic fully exists within each and every one of us.

i'll just explain why i chose "other", since the other ones explain themselves.

merfolk lore has this primal, dangerous eroticism to it for me, but also a sweet and innocent side which is great too. you can splash and play around with kids, or you can seduce sailors and lure them to their death (not literally, but you get what i'm saying) or just away from their human world. also, mermaids stand for a part of both worlds, they aren't fully human, and so they are bound to the sea. but they aren't fully aquatic either, so they are also bound to land. they are the divider, and as such, i look at them as a protector of both. like a peace-maker, something that both worlds have in common with each other, and that makes it even more magical and amazing to me.

[Delphine]

Forum says 516 of you viewed this. Care to vote? I could change the poll to private, I think, if most want anonymity....

[Nate Walis]

Other: while I have no desire to become such a creature on my own part, I have never come across a mythical or otherwise invented form that could add to the beauty of the female body in the same way as that of a mermaid. While I believe that we are far more graceful creatures on land than most people would admit, there is nothing that come close to the addition of a mermaid's tail to a woman's shape; it adds an element of freedom and enchantment that is simply incredible to my eye.

[Aziara]

I almost chose, 'love to swim, and like it better this way', but since I don't have a tail or monofin yet, I really can't.
for me, underwater was my safe haven. I was terribly shy as a child. Going to a public pool, the shouting and screaming of the other kids would tear my nerves to shreds... But then I'd dive down to the bottom--the sounds faded away... I was well and truly safe. Most people have flying dreams that leave them thrilled when they awake... I would have swimming dreams of swimming deep in the ocean, breathing the water. I was always sad to wake up.

[Prince Calypso]

Mermaids are important to because ...?
thats a hard question to answer
for most people this is a fandom, a creative way to pass the time
for me its a waya to live out a dream.
its how i hold on to a little piece of magic as an adult
its how i am able to be in touch with a world outside of my own
since i was a little boy mermaids were my obsession and my passion.
my ideals of beauty were always defined by the image of a mermaid
as i grew older and came into my own and realized my sexuality
mermaids become a personification of all this to me

the first time i watched Hannah Fraser swim i was hooked
when i realized i could make my own mermaid tail i was ecstatic
when i realized there was a community of people like me, well i broke down and cried like a baby
because i wasn't alone anymore. i wasn't that crazy kid who was always drawing and talking about mermaids
and when my tail came in the mail and i slipped it one... goddess, i have never felt more at peace with myself

so that why mermaids, mermaiding and the entire community are important to me

[Delphine]

Wow! Thank you, Nate, Aziara & Prince Calypso! What great responses you've shared! :)