The Mermaid Theory

I'm a huge How I Met Your Mother fan (and if you haven't already seen it I encourage you to do so). There was an episode where Barney explains the mermaid theory to Marshall. Here is a clip of that specific scene, skip to 0:35 seconds into the video HIMYM Mermaid Theory

Long story short he says that it's only a matter of time before all men see all women as a mermaid versus a manatee. One day a co-worker is a "manatee" and in this case 1 year 3 months and 16 days later she became a "mermaid" in Marshall's eyes.

I think this theory is so funny but also a little true. Eventually when you really get to know someone and you mesh well you start to develop at the very least a friendship. Once that friendship develops you eventually become attracted towards that person. While the show implies that this happens to everyone, I don't believe that is the case. I have male friends that I've known for years, in some cases a lifetime, and I have never had an ounce of attraction towards them. However all of my ex's were at one point my friend and I wasn't (at least in all cases) immediately attracted to them. There was one boy in that group of ex's who was not really attractive at all, but the more I got to know him the more I fell smitten. For me personality comes first and looks second. I'm not going to sit here and say I don't notice his body or smile initially but that's not most important to me. Most of the people I used to date are all relatively good looking men, but had their personality not matched the looks I would have been out the door.

This post is not about cheating with someone you once thought was a manatee and is now a mermaid, it's simply to explore the idea of attraction. I can't think of a time during my married life that I found a man to be a manatee who eventually turned into a mermaid. To be honest I don't spend much time with the opposite sex so that transition wouldn't be too relevant in my life now. I do however feel as though there have been a couple of men who did go through that transition with me, only to eventually become my merman. All in all I think this idea is relateable to all people and interesting to think about with future friends of the opposite sex.
EMM