Dad’s fish tank at the bottom behind me! circa 1983

My fascination with seahorses began at a very early age. While the stereotypical female child dreams of owning a horse, I dreamt of owning a sea horse. Admittedly, initially, I had imagined they would be big enough to ride! Isn’t it strange how, as a child, you don’t always appreciate the size of something until you see it next to something you KNOW the size of?

When I worked at a children’s nursery, I recall the amazement of one child on the annual farm trip when he spied his first chicken. “Aw, isn’t HE tiny!” he said. “In the (Farmyard) book, they all look the same size as the cows!” (So not just me then!)

While I was growing up, my dad had a fish tank situated in the chimney breast of our living room. It was usually full of neon tetras, Beacons, harlequins, a clown loach (named Eric), a long-tailed red shark, plus a couple of catfish and the occasional angelfish. I wished for it to contain seahorses. It never did.

I immersed myself in learning about seahorses, their preferred habitats, and where I might find them in the wild, which is somewhat limited around the UK, particularly with the rapidly deteriorating water quality in the 70s, thus decreasing their habitat. While on holiday in Dorset, I remember demanding the family go on a trip to Studland Bay to see if I could spot seahorses in the wild. We went, but we didn’t find any. However, I did come back with a pencil with the top half made of glass and filled with (magical) multicolored sand!

I remained fascinated by the fact that male seahorses birthed and tended to the young. I was in awe of their resilience; these tiny creatures survive crashing storms and turbulent seas by wrapping their tails around a single blade of seagrass and just holding on, regardless of what’s going on around them. They have to, otherwise, they will be swept away by the pull of the tides and crushed by the waves as they land on the shore. I also loved stories about seahorses, their mythical connections, symbolism, and spirituality.

Seahorses are frequently referred to as the knights of the sea, majestically riding the storm atop the great waves on their way to do battle against whatever evils of the world have invaded their territory. I have often needed my own personal fleet of Knights in Shining Armor, or KISAs, to help me battle through whatever life throws at me, and I’ve been a KISA for many people that I’ve met along the way. The seahorse is seen as a symbol of good luck and serves as a reminder to remain steadfast and grounded even in the most turbulent of times. Small charms and figurines of seahorses have often been given to those working on building ships, sailors, and those traveling far across the sea to proffer good luck and protection, while also conferring calm, friendliness, gentleness, and contentment to the holder.

These tiny creatures often symbolise perseverance, strength in adversity, and immeasurable influence and power for their size. They teach us that we all have the resilience and resources to overcome whatever life throws at us, no matter how daunting and overwhelming it may first appear. If we believe we can overcome the insurmountable, we can and will, just like the tiny seahorse. Perhaps you now understand why I love these beautiful, delicate but determined little creatures and why, many moons ago, in 1996 when my sister, Netty, our housemate Abi, and I decided we were going to get a tattoo, I was adamant that I was getting a seahorse (named Steve).

The symbolism and power of the seahorse have remained with me throughout my life. The resilience of the seahorse has served me as I dealt with the death of my brother and as I survived living within a toxic and abusive marriage, and more recently as I battle with my rheumatoid arthritis, ridiculous health issues, and also with the relentless waves of daily appointments, therapies, and problems that need solving for our beautiful daughter, Elke B.

While managing Elke’s life is something I do with a huge flight of Angels and a fleet of Knights in Shining Armor, predominantly it is Elke and consequently I that drive the direction we sail in each day!

With Elke’s medical fragility, our plans for the day can turn on a sixpence quite easily (and annoyingly frequently) before 7 am. I am often heard saying that we haven’t actually gone where we’re planning to go until we have actually left the house, got in the car, and started the engine! Time management looks like it may elude me, but actually, I carry Organised chaos into an art form or possibly an Olympic sport. There are perpetually 72 things that I seem to be juggling with my life. If you know me, you know I deal with the Urgent big things first; the small important stuff gets done too but not quite as quickly as maybe others would like. For my own sanity, I need to tend to my small turbulent patch of sand in this mahoosive ocean first (i.e., my health and my family first), and then I’ll swim over and stick my toes in other people’s rocky rock pools as soon as I can!

And this is why when I was contemplating setting up Mrs. Bizzy Wizzy as a community to support others, a repertoire of experiences and ideas, My People Library of awesome contacts & businesses, and a receptacle of information, the seahorse was ALWAYS going to be my logo.

I am forever grateful to James Palmer Jones of Sear Genius for listening to my many stories and thoughts about seahorses and my book about Elke and me, Training an Angel.

James took my original beautiful logo and turned it into the beautiful logo you see here, one which depicts not ONE but TWO seahorses, riding the storms together!

I’ll let you decide who you think the TWO seahorses are to you.

A rising tide raises all ships.