I thought I was fulfilling my own dream, but the real magic was in making children’s dreams come true.

Zoë Burnett / Buzzfeed

Hi God, it's me, Claire. I'm just your average, awkward 24-year-old who is obsessed with mermaids.*

*THIS PART IS IMPORTANT.

@foryourclairification

Donning a fin and living your best merlife is more than a lifestyle: It's also a profession, whether you work in a bar, as entertainment for events, or to help promote ocean conservation.

In addition to being swimming, posing, and diving experts, professional mermaids have to:

• Have the stamina to withstand children's parties

• Dodge invasive questions that would "break" mercharacter

• Wear a constricting, silicone tail for (potentially) hours on end

• Have escape maneuvers when children try to "drown" you (to see if you're real)

• Be vastly knowledgeable about the ocean and it's creatures

• And finally, to have the charm, improv, and acting abilities to captivate and entertain small hordes of children and adults

And I, with a fiery burning passion, have made it my mission in life to become a real-life, bona fide mermaid.

So I enlisted the help of Virginia, who is basically a real-life mermaid. She owns and operates Sheroes, a fantasy character service, and wanted to make all my merdreams come true.

She's the HM (Head Mermaid) of her business and offers two kinds of mermaid schools: regular ol' mermaid school for recreational mermaids, and professional mermaid school — a rigorous six-month training program involving lifeguard training, scuba options, acting classes, and, of course, extensive mermaid preparation.

Instagram: @mermaids_sheroes_entertainment

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