Dream Journal

11-27-15 Mermaiding at Weeki Wachee

I drove to Florida to find the lady I cashiered at Darrenkamps who said she used to work as a mermaid at Weeki Wachee, Florida. I found the house, which was rather large, and there was an elderly lady who answered the door. I believe that was her mom whom she was taking care of. When I finally met the woman, I introduced myself and told her my story. She remembered me and decided to take me to Weeki Wachee. I was so excited, I even brought my tail.
The place looked very nice. There was a large in-ground pool with various walls and curves. It was like an exhibit. The people were able to walk around to view the mermaids from different areas. When I saw the mermaids swimming freely, my heart lifted. Their tails were extravagant, each having their own color and design. I was so excited that I put my tail on (which apparently was a lot more worn than it is now), and got into the water. Nobody scolded me, I wasn't in trouble, and I think it was because I came with the retired mermaid.
I had so much fun. I swam everywhere and watched the other mermaids. The only thing different about us was that my tail wasn't as perfect as theirs. But I didn't let that defeat my happiness. After swimming a while, I seated myself on a shallow area of the pool (kind of like a shelf in the water), and the lady came up to me. I told her how great this was, and she was very happy for me. I asked her which people I could talk to about working here and she pointed at a man that was outside.
It seemed like there was an outdoor area of the pool, that was a lot bigger and wider. It would connect to the indoor one via big sliding door so the mermaids could swim right through. The man, I specifically remember, was a bit large, bald, and slightly bearded, and looked in his 40's. I think he was testing or cleaning the water outside.
So my shy self didn't want to disturb him and waited inside until he would be done. The mermaid door was closed, anyway. My friend handed me a paper that had a lot of information on it that she wrote (it looked like my career class assignment, since I wanted to interview her for real). It was really nice of her. She even began showing me the different types of tails on a graphed paper and their prices. However, this part made me a bit confused.
She was marking the tail types which were more affordable. But, the prices looked like this: 2. 2. 2. 2.  OR  4.50, 4.50, 4.50, 4.50, etc. I couldn't understand whether they were $2 or $200! After I asked, she said, "oh don't worry about that, I'll cover most of it." I was extremely thrilled. Was I really getting my own professionally made tail??
Then the show began to start. "Should I get out?"
She told me to stay in the water and just participate. I was nervous, but way more excited. There was a man (30's?) standing at a higher part of the pool wall, kind of like a stage. There were about 8 trophies lined up in front of him, for everyone to see. He announced that it was the shrimp finding event. There were a couple piles of shrimp lying on a wall that sort of served as a shelf above water, and a tunnel underneath (like the side of a pool, but with a tunnel under the water). The mermaids were supposed to take the shrimp in their mouths one by one, and find the various small baskets placed around the vicinity of the pool. Sort of like a hide and seek game. I lined up with the others, and the game began. I took a shrimp in my mouth (it seemed more like an undercooked slimy piece of chicken), and dove underwater to find a basket. I went right under the tunnel, or archway, and found one along the outside wall of it. I placed my shrimp in the basket, and returned to grab another one. I was very determined.
I swam around, searching for a basket. It looked like the others got to them first. I continued searching and swam under a line of chairs that were set in another shallow area of the pool. I thought I did well to show off to the guests. I swerved around after exiting the line, and headed towards the area where the shelf was that I previously sat in. I dove under to the deeper part and found a basket and placed my shrimp inside.
By this time, everyone was out of shrimp and we all returned to bob in the water in front of the stage. The man began to announce the winners, from last to first. I was second to last! It made me very happy and proud, even though it wasn't a big trophy. It actually looked like a squishy toy in the shape of a blob monster. But I didn't care, I was happy to win it.
I gave it to my friend and she invited me back to her house. We stopped at the area where the tails were fixed and touched-up first. I /think/ she was paying for that instead of a new tail. I didn't get too much explanation on her motives. But it was really nice of her, since my tail was in pretty bad shape and my feet kept sticking out. But I was okay to hide that while I was swimming.
The weather was very windy and raining, so we waited a bit. It's funny, my brain remembered that Florida has crazy weather. We finally returned to the house and I remember that I could hear the thunderous sound of the ocean. She lived right next to it! I was so excited and asked if we could go tomorrow morning before I left. She said sure and before I knew it, it was morning. We walked down a sandy path of stairs to the beach. I found so many amazing and large new shells to bring home. We arrived on the shore, and the waves were very unpredictable.
There was a group of people there, sitting on chairs and under a tent. It looked like a setup for an event. I was able to safely set my collection on a chair so I could swim. But before I could, the waves suddenly got a lot bigger and began to sweep past the chairs and people. I tried my best to protect my shells, but the elderly lady was having trouble, so I crouched in front of her chair to hold on when the waves swept past. I helped her hold her breath when there were especially big ones.
Suddenly a child was screaming and she got trapped in the water, bobbing right on top of all the large waves. Few went out to rescue her because of how dangerous the water was. I ran around the beach and got into the water from a small out cove that was behind all the choppy waves. I swam towards her, but now there were a lot more adults pushing them (a few trapped children) back to the beach. I helped anyway.
When we got back, the water wasn't as crazy, but I did lose my awesome shells. I figured I'll find more. Then mosquitos started to bug me, so someone lended me bug spray.
Later I remember that I was crying to my friend, saying that I want to live by the beach and be a mermaid. I don't remember much after that. This dream was so clear and real and so memorable. Is it a sign? Even after all the negative things that happened, I never once stopped being happy. I didn't let those things bother me because I was living my dream.