Greetings, Turtle - on our wedding anniversary

Today is our wedding anniversary. On my walk this morning with Lucy, we saw a baby turtle crossing the road. He moved rather quickly to my surprise. Lucy was so excited by this turtle, that I had to hold her back and make her sit a few feet away while we watched him shuttle across the road. Lucy’s tail was wagging as we watched the little turtle.

We stood in the warm rain, the whole surroundings were a lush jungle-like green. It was so peaceful and quiet. Once the turtle was almost to the other side, we walked up slowly to the turtle and Lucy gently sniffed him. The turtle jutted his head in and out of his shell and I said to him that we just wanted to say hello and didn’t want to hurt him.

After a few moments, I had to almost drag Lucy away from her first turtle sighting. We walked a few minutes and then turned around. I walked over to where the turtle had been and poof, gone, he had vanished. Well, at least to my human eye he had vanished. But Lucy, sensing we both wanted to see our turtle friend one more time, put her head down on the ground in wagged her tail. Following the scent, in just a minute, we located the turtle nestled under some brush. We said hello again and then walked home.

I think that seeing a turtle today was a good sign. Turtles carry their homes wherever they go. In Native American folk-lore, turtles represent carrying the whole world with you wherever you are. And today, on our wedding anniversary, I feel that wherever my heart is, is my home. My heart is with Stuart and wherever we are together, that is my home.