I am a MERMAID

I grew up a small town country girl in East Texas. My mother and father gratefully put my sisters and I into dance at the age of three. Everyday we would go to school, go to dance class, go home, do homework, then eat, sleep and repeat. Weekends were set for dance and cheerleading competitions, chores and church. We were disciplined and taught we could do it all, which is why I have that mind set today.

Summer times were all so different. Summer time, meant beach time!! We traveled to good ole' Bolivar Peninsula, East of Galveston, to our Beach House for the whole summer!

My sisters and I crabbed with chicken necks on a string! We gigged flounders wearing converse high tops and yellow waders while carrying a lantern! We fished for our dinner! We went to the beach and collected sea shells. We went shopping at Dan's Shell Shop for some of the finest T-Shirts and Jewelry. We played games, did puzzles and chilled in the hammock in the afternoon. Every night I would fall asleep listening to the ocean and the barges through the window next to my bed dreaming of tomorrow's adventures.

It was those summers, those amazing moments that have made me so passionate about the ocean.

When my husband, James and I meet years ago I knew he was the one. As they say you know you know.

ANd he definitely found something special in me too. Maybe it was the way I knew how to handle a crab after all those years of training. Maybe it was that I outfished him "and still do". Or maybe it was the way we both cherish the sea. All I know is there are a million fish in the sea, but I am his MERMAID and he is the only fish for me!

Today we share those same precious activities I did as a child. However, we do it a little different. We throw the chicken necks into a crab tap. We gig off an airboat that has enough lights to light up a stadium. We fish for our dinner every ocean! We collect sea shells at some of the best beaches! And every night I fall asleep next to him wondering what tomorrow's adventures will be.