21 Feb 2012
When I was a child, I believed in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. I thought I was a Genie that lived in a brass bottle my parents kept on a shelf in the den. Ghosts and monsters lurked in the shadows, and fairies lived underneath my house. I grew up in Bethesda, Md, just outside of Washington, DC. I never met a mermaid.
Not until much later in my adult years anyway. My husband, Michael was in Kandui
Island in Indonesia doing a photo shoot with a bunch of pro surfers, when out of the blue
he sent us home photos of a Mermaid?
Our four-year-old daughter was overwhelmed with emotion, “Daddy found a
Mermaid…a real live Mermaid.”
Piaget the Swiss psychologist said, “that children are born believing they have a magical
control over the world. That because children believe that they are the center of the
universe, they could make anything happen.”
The need to believe that we can control our destiny through magical beliefs is so
important that it seems unlikely that we will ever abandon such irrational thinking despite
advances in science.
Who says it’s irrational anyway… I can’t tell you how many times I have asked a little
girl what they want to be when they grow up? And how many times I have heard,
“WHEN I GROW UP I WANT TO BE A MERMAID!”
When they grow up, what state will the Ocean (a mermaids home) be in? As I sat in the
Natural History Museum with my daughter, now six, watching a movie with her hands
covering her face, “It’s too depressing, I can’t watch anymore about how bad our planet
is…..” At that moment, I realized it was my duty as her parent to show by example how
she and her friends could help make a difference.
Like-minded parents who want their children to be groundbreakers and the people who
are activating change surround me. In order for this to happen, we as parents must be
living examples of movement and change. We need to show with simple steps that we
can do what we can touch.
I had some words…my husband had a camera…we met a mermaid… We were inspired
by our three daughters boundless imaginations. It is from there that Last Night I Swam
With a Mermaid was born.
This book has been a true labor of love. We are so grateful to all our family and friends
that have helped in so many ways. It takes a village… a community… and it all starts at
home. We want this book to inspire kids and adults of all ages to make a difference. It
empowers kids to know they can. It is important to motivate and activate our youth to
improve the world we live in.
I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. It is written to the
little child in all of us.
Dream Big
Kimberly Jacobs Muller
