Episode Description
Rita King is a Legendary Siren - a mermaid at Florida's Weeki Wachee Springs - who returned to the water after a whole working life away. She first performed in the famous mermaid shows as a teenager in the late 1960s, then raised a family, taking the sensible route to pay the bills. But the pull to the water never faded.
When she retired from the US Postal Service at 60, Rita retrained at mermaid school and waited four years for a place among the Legendary Sirens to open up. Now she runs adult mermaid camps for women who come from all over.
This Season 4 opener is about intrinsic motivation and reclaiming the part of yourself you set aside. Have you drifted from something you once loved?
THE WOBBLY MIDDLE is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife. Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories — leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study, and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously.
New episodes every other Tuesday.
ABOUT THE HOST: Patsy Day is a recovering lawyer navigating her own midlife career crossroads. A penny dropped for her when she realised that the restless feeling she'd been feeling was returning ambition. The Wobbly Middle is that in-between space where we know we want change but don't know how to move forward.
IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE:
You might also love our episode on how to make an action board: Pin It To Win It: The Neuroscience of Action Boards with Rebecca Newman (Season 3, Episode 2). If Rita's story is about honouring a wish or a dream you've held inside you and finally going for it; the Rebecca's is about the science of holding that wish in front of you and acting on it.
It's an opportunity to be playful, to cut and stick and to start.
Links
Where to find out about mermaid camps at Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida — :https://weekiwachee.com/
Find out more about The Wobbly Middle:
The Wobbly Middle on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-wobbly-middle/id1767850643
Subscribe to the newsletter: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep31-rita-king
TIME STAMPS
- 02:30 — Becoming a mermaid in the late '60s and the magnetic pull to the water
- 03:30 — Mermaid myths: custodians of the springs, manatees, and Columbus
- 04:30 — Inside Weeki Wachee: the aquifer, the current, the underwater caverns
- 06:00 — What it's really like to swim in a mermaid tail
- 07:00 — "It spoiled me for any other job" and the rural swamp mail route
- 07:50 — Going back to mermaid school: the four-year wait to become a Legendary Siren
- 09:00 — The performance schedule and underwater safety for the young swimmers
- 09:40 — Conservation: algae blooms, chemicals, and 17 springs that dried up
- 10:00 — Adult mermaid camps: who comes, and how the women transform
- 13:50 — The bond between the mermaids, across every age
- 15:00 — Inspiring women of every age and size from the theatre
- 17:40 — "How do I find the water baby in me again?"
- 18:30 — Soul-searching, determination, and how badly you want it
- 22:30 — What the little girl driven to Weeki Wachee would think now
- 23:50 — Advice to her younger self: "Be more patient"
- 24:00 — Season 4 preview: the women who bring us the sunshine
HELP US GROW
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- Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
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SHARE YOUR STORY
Made a left turn in your career? We'd love to hear about it. Write to Patsy at patsy@thewobblymiddle.com — your story might just be the nudge someone else needs.
This episode was produced by Patsy Day. Studio recording by The Pod Collective.