Turtle Guy

Abby is wearing a shirt today that says:

"Save:
         Pandas
         Whales
         Cheetah
          All of the animals"

This is unbelievably appropriate for my daughter. She. Loves. Animals.  She wants to have a horse ranch and save all the animals that she can when she grows up. "But only the cute ones" she admits.

Sometimes I think Abby feels overlooked. She's 4 but feels 6. She's not the baby anymore and being a big sister is tough work. She would add, "Especially when the little brother is a wild key-whapper." Thankfully, I was able to use Abby's love of animals to reconnect with her in a strange but exciting way.


Driving (faster than I should) down one our little country roads, I just barely missed a turtle in the road. It occurred to me that if Abby had been driving, she probably would have stopped the car and moved the turtle out of the road. I laughed.

Then I thought about how slowly turtles move and how fast other drivers (clears throat) drive. I felt bad.

I found a place to turn around and told the kids, "We have to go back."

The kids whined. Abby asked, "But whhhhyyyy, Mommy?"

"There's a turtle in the road that needs our help!" Her face lit up as she surveyed the road ahead.

I was regretting revealing my plan so early as I imagined that the turtle had already been smashed and I would have to now explain it to Abby.

But to my surprise, he was still okay and trucking along at a...well...a turtle's pace. :) 

So, I turned the car around again (to be on the same side of the road as the turtle), parked the car off the side of the road. Looked both ways, and saw a car coming. I had no time to hesitate...but just as I reached down to grab Mr. Turtle, he hissed at me! <I still get shivers when I remember it>  The nerve! I'm risking my life to save his and he hisses at me! I didn't even know turtles could hiss! But I couldn't drop him now, my kids were watching eagerly from the car!  So I kept hold of him and then tossed him into the grass. 

But oh! He landed on his back. I knew that wasn't going to be helpful, so I reached down the small embankment and picked him up again. <shivers>  This time, feeling less panicky, I carried him over to meet my kids.  They were thrilled!!! 

I put him back down into the grass (facing the opposite direction of the road) and got back into the car.

The look on Abby's face was priceless. Mommy was a turtle hero!  Her heart had been heard. And now she knows that Mommy is on her side, caring about the same things that concern her little (BIG) heart.

Caedmon, dubbed the turtle "Turtle Guy". Each day that we drive that road, we look for Turtle Guy.  I hope this is one of those stories that we share year after year at the Thanksgiving table!

I wondered later if Turtle Guy had a reason for crossing the road. Perhaps a family, or better food.  I may have actually set him back by a week. Perhaps the reason for his hissing?  <shrugs shoulders> We'll never know, I guess!