Mermaids are something I've been fascinated with for the last eighteen months give or take. It started on Instagram with the account of the Hannah Mermaid, Hannah Fraser. I then found other more popular real life mermaids, like the mermaids of Weeki Wachee Springs.

The beauty and the grace are what interested me at first, but it has become something I have an almost obsession with at this point. I talked to my mother about this, because I was really worried about it. She told me that as long as I had no intention of getting surgery to become part fish, that I shouldn't worry about it.

Mermaids are seen in almost every type of lore, whether it is the Greeks with Aphrodite, to the Irish with the Selkies, mermaids just keep popping up. Depending on your lore, mermaids are either good, bad or neutral. Ariel (from "The Little Mermaid") saved Prince Eric's life. However, the mermaids in the Harry Potter books held people prisoner during the Triwizard Tournament. (Side note: I'm completely convinced Dumbledore wouldn't have let them be eaten or killed by the merfolk). Most people also remember the Sirens that would attack people in "The Odyssey," the story of the Greek hero Odysseus. Mermaids aren't exactly kind in these stories, but they still fascinate me. They have been portrayed in many other stories such as the Netflix series, "Mako Mermaids" that is generally for younger children.

They are everywhere, even Starbucks has a mermaid. I figured that if everyone seems to love mermaids, then I should be alright. That my fascination with the supernatural wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

I was at first fascinated with the general beauty and appearance of these women who could teleport from dimension to dimension (without a Tardis!) and could lure men to them. It seemed like they have everything a woman could ever want: no nasty monthly visitors, perfect hair, great singing voice, and beauty beyond compare. But that isn't what draws me to them the most. It's the sense of freedom a mermaid has that excites me.

Mermaids to me symbolize what I want most in the world, freedom. Freedom to live and see the world. Go from place to place and meet new people. The freedom to try new foods. Mermaids have the ability to use portals to go to different dimensions. They can swim from one side of the world to the other. They don't have anything holding them down. If they want to go to Hawaii for absolutely no reason, they can literally just portal to Hawaii. If they want to go to New Zealand, portal to New Zealand. They have absolute freedom. They don't have to consult anyone, they don't have to worry about the future because they are immortal. They can do whatever they want whenever they want. They are the original Boss Ass Bitches.

Mermaids have the beauty, grace, strength and wisdom to realize what they want and go after it. They don't let things like not having legs slow them down. They take what they want and get stuff done. They don't let any sea creature tell them what to do. "Mermaids don't cry over the opinion of shrimp," is by far one of my favorite quotes. They get whatever they put their minds to done and still manage to look fabulous whist doing it. That, in an essence is why I love mermaids.