Once upon a time in a land far far away lived a lonely
shark, he constantly traveled across oceans in search of new reefs, good food,
luxurious sunsets and new experiences. One day on a trip not too far from his
home he met a beautiful mermaid princess whose smile and eyes told of so much
more.
At first she wanted his attention and told him this over and
over but the shark’s life was filled with work and his selfish adventures and
he could not be bothered. At long last the shark gave in and shared an
adventure with the mermaid princess and the tables were turned.
The shark was confused, didn't know what to think, this
mermaid princess had lit a fire in his cold heart just by being herself. She
showed him how smart she is, how adventurous, how she embraced the same
greatness of the world that he loved so much. And she felt so good cuddled so
close in his fins.
The mermaid princess wasn't sure of what she wanted anymore;
the shark was a lot to manage and could sometimes be fierce; he was a shark
after all. So she came and went from his life like the tides of the ocean they
both lived in. The shark remained steadfast in his admiration of the mermaid princess
and was sure one day her tide would come in and stay.
There were differences, but only superficial ones and
together they found a mutual love and affection for each other, celebrated a
lot, traveled the oceans experiencing all of the greatness the planet had to
offer and lived happily ever after.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once upon a time in a place far far away there was a
beautiful mermaid princess with a broken heart. At first she was crushed, all
she wanted was to settle down and grow closer with the conniving barracuda she
was with. In a short time she realized there were many exciting schools of fish
that flowed freely with the current of the sea and drifted from one epic ocean party
to the next.
Life was fast, fun and exciting; she met all types of new
marine life: octopi, salmon, sea lions, dolphins, seals, cod, angel fish,
puffer fish, prawns, lobsters, sharks, eels and A LOT of invertebrates. The
princess mermaid was so caught up in the ocean party that occasionally she lost
the particular school she was drifting with and had a run in with a friendly
orca that would gallantly guide her back to her sanctuary in the pretty blue
ocean.
The princess mermaid was learning to forget the past and
keep pushing forward, it was very hard and sometimes she would see the old
barracuda she was with and feel like every step she had taken forward was worth
none of the effort she had made. But she had angel fish she could lean on in
her sanctuary and even a cold hearted shark that had made great effort to know
her and would do almost anything to see her happy.
Despite the dangerous reputation mermaids had the cold
hearted shark he had taken aim for her princess mermaid’s heart. He found her
interesting, intoxicating even and could see her truth when he stared into her
eyes. The princess mermaid was busy, her heart still hurt, everyone wanted her
and she didn't know how to be with the shark because she had no time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even in the pretty blue ocean there were sometimes great storms,
the earth would shift creating giant swell changing the currents and the tides
would surge displacing some of the creatures of the sea. One particular day the
shark was caught in one of these rare surges, a tidal wave, that took him on a short
brutal ride, smashing him over sharp rocks and leaving him unconscious on the
beach to die.
The shark awoke on the sand and could not breathe the damp
air through his gills, there was no one there to help but he could see the
ocean and knew he needed to get back. He screamed for the mermaid in the
bleakness of the morning, she was so far away last time he had seen her and
knew she would not help and that left him filled with hate and anger.
The shark chomped at the thick air as if he could grab it
and drag himself back to the ocean he so desperately needed, he flipped and
tried frantically to get back to the ocean but made very little headway. Again
he called for the mermaid princess this time really lashing out against her, struggling
for his life thinking it would be better to die alone knowing she was gone
forever than wondering if she loved him or if she loved him not.
Eventually the tide started to move in and through sheer
will the shark made it back into the water and could finally breathe again. In
time he found some easy prey and started to recover from the enormous trauma of
the tsunami. To his horror he realized the mermaid princess was gone for good
but had not left his heart and wished more than anything he had given her more
time and not lashed out as a shift in the earth had caused his extreme distress,
not her.
The shark swam alone through the ocean, his mind rolling in
despair; he had been severely beaten by the tidal wave and chased away the
beautiful mermaid princess he was so fond of. Something had to change, he
needed to take steps forward, he needed to reach out to her, she needed to
know. And in that moment he got an idea, it was only an idea, but one that
would take great courage and more humility than he had ever mustered in his
life.
He found a humpback friend and asked him to use his high
frequency whale song to send his message thousands of miles across the ocean
hoping the mermaid princess would listen to his pitiful but sincere apology.
The humpback warned him that all the creatures in the ocean would hear his song
and know how horribly the shark had acted, the shark was humiliated but his
admiration for the mermaid princess was stronger than is ego.
The whale went to the surface took a giant breath and
returned to the shark and started to sing his beautiful whale song. The song
traveled far and wide and in a short time reached the mermaid princess, but
she was furious and rightfully so. And wondered how could the shark be so
horrible and expect her to ever speak with him again, deep down she also knew
that his apology was unwavering and whole hearted.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the great ocean the lonely shark was just a beginner, he had
taken some lumps from the movement of the planet and knew he had to learn fast or
be finned by the old creatures that had owned the vastness of the sea for
eternity. The shark was smart though; he
knew his personal values and would act with a fiery passion and a lucid
determination that gave him many advantages.
The princess mermaid had turned in a tailspin of
self-destruction, acting foolishly, without intent, embarrassing and disrespecting
herself. She knew she needed to end the vicious cycle but couldn't stop herself
from just one more time. This made the shark very upset; he cared for the
princess mermaid and really didn't like how she would try and sell him her time
or her conspicuous attempts to manipulate him into doing things for her.
The shark knew that deep down the princess mermaid was
better than this but more importantly knew that for now he had to let her go.
As much as he cared for her, as much friendship and chemistry as they had
together, as she acted now, she would drive him into a frenzy that would take
away from his life, not contribute to it. More than anything he hoped the
princess mermaid would end her destructive path, restore integrity to her life
and swim with him again, but that was a decision only she could make.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Was it the end or was
it the beginning? Nobody ever really knows. The pretty blue ocean is a big
place, there’s a lot of good and a lot of bad and for the most part we are able
to make choices that best represent our needs and desires. Sometimes we get
caught in currents that take us places we don’t want to go and hopefully along
the way learn how to make better decisions so it doesn't happen again.
