Becoming a Mermaid Episode 1: The Beginning

Even as a kid, I have this fascination of mermaids. I can clearly remember how I persuaded my mother to buy poster-sized story books containing mermaids. During my third year in high school, we were tasked to cover our journals creatively with things that represent ourselves. Yes, a fifteen year old drew mermaid's tail swimming from a blue sea of crepe paper. Anything mermaid movie or tv shows, I would watch them.

It is funny how invested I am to mermaids and yet I do not know how to swim. I live in Lapu-Lapu City where a beach could easily be reached within thirty minutes but I did not get the chance to learn how to swim.

My father knew how to swim but my cautious mom wouldn't let us waddle too far from the shore. Hence, my father just taught me how to float, which I am really good at. *hair flip*

I love the sea. Everytime I would feel messed up, I would always try to go to the beach. My most treasured travels are mostly having the beach as one of the destinations.

Seeing these underwater creatures makes my heart happy and make me do reckless things. A trip in Moalboal, made me jumped off the boat upon seeing a sea turtle and even tried to have a close encounter. Good thing I had my life vest on. I always end up getting dragged by a boatman in Coron and Apo Island because I can't swim back to the boat.

So now I decided to take things on my own terms by learning how to swim. It is not too late to learn. This is just the start in exploring the sea and be close enough to become a mermaid.