When I was young I used to love pretending I was a mermaid. I loved to submerge myself underwater during bath time and hold my breath as I pretended that I was a beautiful mermaid princess floating weightlessly in warm bath water. I loved the feeling of being underwater and floating. I loved the way my soft blond hair seemed even finer and silkier when I ran my fingers through it. I loved the way the water enveloped my body in warmth and the way it drowned out the sounds of the outside world. Inevitably though my lungs would scream for air and I’d have to come out of the water, into the harsh lights and sounds of the bathroom.
I have heard that our love of the water goes back to our earliest experiences as human beings, of being in our mother’s womb. Maybe the feeling of security and warmth I felt as I plunged myself under the water somehow reconnected me to a time I don’t consciously remember, a time that was completely safe, before I had any idea of what life had in store for me.