Maris:  it means “of the sea” in Latin.  She has been to the beach every year of her life since she was eight months old.  My little one loves the water and is truly a water baby.  Her eyes are as dark as the bottom of the ocean and her hair curls like the waves of the tides.  I cannot recall a time when I have not had to drag her out of the water.  At about one and a half she let the gentle current rock her to sleep on a shaded baby float I was holding.  Despite her visible exhaustion she has refused to leave.  Once when she was two I saw the cabana boys taking up the umbrellas and chairs and I told her the beach was closing.  They were actually removing everything so the sea turtles could come out to nest.  I explained we shared the ocean with them as well as a host of other creatures.  Since then it has been a tiny bit easier.  When she was three we got her shark arm floaties and I will never forget when she said, “Bye Bye Mama”, turned away from me, and was wildly far off before I could practically blink!  Burk told me to be careful of the undertow and I freaked out!  I had absolutely no idea, given I had grown up in a landlocked city and did not have the privilege of traveling a lot before marriage.  This past year I remember her telling me she needed to use the facilities and, I confess, I told her she could just tinkle in the water.  Horrified, she said, “Mama, I do not want to hurt any of the animals in the sea!” and to this day I feel guilty.  The Canadian marine wildlife conservation activist Paul Watson has been quoted as saying:

“I have been honoured to serve the whales, dolphins, seals – and all the other creatures on this Earth.  Their beauty, intelligence, strength, and spirit have inspired me.”

Now we have a little mermaid who truly believes she is able to swim and she is fearless.  We know it is past time for her to really swim independently; it is a lifelong, lifesaving skill.  And so she was beyond excited for her first day of swim class at an indoor swim school.  Her smile never left her beaming face and she kept making little squeals of delight.  She really did look and sound like a little dolphin.  So far she has mastered two skills in her Dolphin 1 class.  Her father and I hope that by Christmas she will be able to not only save herself and float, but eventually … swim like a dolphin.