"NERMAID!!!!!"

Every morning on our commute to work & School we pass a sculpture (one of many around our town – see http://www.beaufortcountyarts.com/merweb/merchart.html). My monkey is completely fascinated by this divine creature, and any others we see about town. Every morning as we roll passed one of these lovely sirens my daughter yells at the top of her lungs “NERMAID!” (yes she says it with a “N” – and I don’t have the heart to correct her…it's just plain cute) It is as if it is a surprise every time. I tell you this because, the mermaid does not ever move, she does not hide behind a tree and scream at oncoming traffic “BOO!” She never changes color or even her hairstyle. Yet the obsession continues. So much so, that my monkey insisted that her Halloween costume have an aqua tail to match (Yes…she was a Nermaid for Halloween). So mommy brushed off her sewing skills, and with a little help from a friend I was able to hand and machine sew a mermaid costume; complete with fish tangled in seaweed and pearls. Fortunately for me, Monkey never noticed that her and her obsession did not completely match. However, she did decide that now that she had the proper attire she could now meet her lovely goddess. So, on Halloween we introduced ourselves to this Mermaid that had captured our attention and heart. Monkey was very excited. We posed and took pictures; Monkey even had a full blown conversation with this magnificent stone creature. When we were done, as we walked back to the car I noticed that Monkey was a little disappointed. When asked what was wrong her only reply was…. “I didn’t get to ride her in the water.” Now was when I had a decision to make. You see, it was clear to me that this Nermaid was still very real to my daughter in the sense that she could swim in the ocean, sing beautiful songs, and could enchant any sailor (or in my case, my daughter) who came by. I did not want to ruin this for my daughter. So I simply said that Nermaids can’t swim when anyone is watching or else they would lose all their magical powers. So we can only visit with the mermaids. This seemed to help a little, but what sealed the deal was when I said… “How about we visit some different Nermaids, and get pictures with them?” You would have thought I had offered to give her a lifetime supply of princess dresses and candy. So now it is our mission to visit every Nermaid we can find, and get pictures with every one. I have included a couple of pictures of the Mermaid we have had the opportunity of visiting with. I must say that, although I could go with out the shrilling “NERMAID!” every morning; I am glad for the mermaids. They have opened the world of Art in to my daughter’s life in a way that no museum ever could.