I was always the first one in the water and the first one out. I used to fill up the sink and play in it for hours. I was obsessed with water sports and activites. I used to lifeguard. I used to teach swim lessons. I swam competitively.  My mom used to called me "Madison," after the mermaid in the movie Splash. I fancied myself a mermaid of sorts. 
Then there was the dream. Clear and vivid as day I was running. It was night and aside from the moon; pitch black. Thin clouds raced overhead, obscurring the moon and then as quickly as it had vanished, the sky would light up again with the moon's glow. My heart was pounding; my breathing was labored and heavy. I wore a dress and for some reason it was torn and tattered as if I had run far and long through brambled fields. The fabric whipped around my body and then a spray of salt and the sea was ahead. I could see the water shimmer when the moon emerged from the clouds. The voices were behind me. I was running from them. They were getting closer. I was terrified. I ran so fast and with such purpose to the sea. I could hear them just behind me. I don't know who they were; why we were running; or where we were; but I knew I was in danger. When I felt I could go no further, that my lungs would burst the ground beneath my feet grew sandy and damp and then I was there and I ran into the water; the water slowing my gate as I ran to my shins and trudged further out until I dove in and swam. I continued to swim and suddenly I was warm and felt safe. The voices were gone. No one reached for me and I was free. I would swim for some time before surfacing and when I did, I was far away from the shore and aware that I didn not need to come up at all for air... I could breathe underwater... The figures that had been chasing me were silhouttes, knee deep in the water. I dove back under and swam away. 
I woke up from my dream half expecting to find kelp in my hair. Unfortunately, and believe me I tried to recreate that dream for years... I'd never turn into a mermaid again. Almost two decades later I have a little girl and I'm happy to report that my daughter is obsessed with mermaids as well; she talks about them all the time; is convinced they're real; and tells me how she wants to be a mermaid one day when she grows up. Me too kid... me too.