How Jaws, a Flying Bucket of Popcorn, and a Whale Changed My Life

Written By Donna Davies

Grab an iced coffee and settle in — this is the story of how a 12-year-old girl in 1975 became the ocean-obsessed artist behind Wear the Wave.

Yes, it involves Jaws.
Yes, it involves flying popcorn.
And yes, it involves me never going in the water past my knees ever again.

Let’s begin.

🦈 1975: The Year Everything Changed

I was twelve the first time I saw Jaws.
My next-door neighbor and I were at the movies when Ben Gardner’s head popped out of the hull of the boat — you know the scene — and he threw his popcorn straight into the air like a tiny geyser of buttery panic.

I thought it was hilarious.
Not scary. Not traumatizing.
Just absolutely, wildly funny.

But something else happened, too:

I was intrigued.
Not by the gore — but by the story, the mystery, the creature itself.
The idea that something so powerful and misunderstood lived just beyond the shore.

🏝️ The Vineyard Years

My aunt and uncle had a house on Martha’s Vineyard, and my cousin and I were full-blown Jaws kids.
I remember seeing:

  • the original Orca remains

  • Quint’s shack before it was dismantled

  • and the real filming locations that felt like stepping into cinema history

Fast-forward to the film’s 50th anniversary, and of course I returned — iced coffee in hand — to do my own private Jaws pilgrimage like the absolute shark nerd I am.

And yes…
I still only go into the ocean up to my knees.
A boundary is a boundary.

🦈 Of Course I Wanted the Shark to Live

Even at twelve, I wanted the shark to swim away triumphantly and go live its big sharky life.

And years later, learning that Peter Benchley spent the rest of his life working to save sharks made everything click for me.
A story that once inspired fear eventually inspired science, protection, and understanding.

Benchley’s journey is one of the reasons Wear the Wave exists at all.

🌊 The Ocean Has Been Calling Me Forever

I’ve searched for meaning in my art for a long time — the kind of meaning you don’t have to force, because it’s been quietly sitting beside you your whole life.

And today, it clicked.

The ocean has always been my compass.

  • It warms the deepest parts of my soul.

  • It moves me in ways I can’t quite describe.

  • It’s where I feel most like myself.

This year, a whale came close enough that I could have reached out and touched her — a moment so powerful it rearranged something inside me.

I am still searching for my first great white sighting.
Maybe she’s out there waiting for me too.

🐋 Why Wear the Wave Exists

Two incredible organizations — AWSC and NECWA — do work every single day to protect sharks, whales, ocean sunfish, and the fragile ecosystems they call home.

Their mission matters.
The ocean matters.
And somehow, in a way that feels almost magical, my art finally found its purpose.

I don’t want to live in a world where:

  • the ocean is polluted

  • sharks vanish

  • whales disappear

  • or the adorable, slightly clueless mola mola doesn’t flop around anymore

(They might not be geniuses, but they deserve to stick around.)

Wear the Wave is my way of giving back — of turning inspiration into action.

🌊 So Here I Am

A girl who grew up laughing at flying popcorn,
fell in love with a great white shark,
found peace on a whale watch boat,
and now pours that love into glass, yarn, and handmade waves.

If you’re here reading this, welcome to my world.
I’m so glad you’re part of this journey.

Protect the ocean. Wear the Wave.
And maybe keep your popcorn close — you never know when a shark story will make it fly.

Donna Davies http://www.hallowstyle.com