Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Turtle Karma


The daily pop up afternoon thunderstorms and the deluge of rain that comes with them, coupled with the already flooding rivers, creeks, and streams has the turtles all scrambling. The roadways are littered with smooshed turtle carcasses.
I cannot see a turtle on the road but what I am not reminded of my late friend and woods companion Skippy. 
Skippy held the theory that every turtle needs a little help now and then. Many, many, a time we came to screeching halt, creating a traffic hazard while he leapt from the vehicle to give a turtle a lift across the road. 
"It's just good karma" he would shrug whenever he was asked about his fanatical approach to escorting turtles from the roadside. 
By the looks of things this morning there were lots of turtles that could have used Skippy's  help.
In all honesty, the turtles were symbolic to my friend who suffered from Bi Polar disease, and truly only felt at peace with the world when we were deep in the forest or trailing through the fields. He occasionally found himself  in need of that same type of boost across the road. When he was depressed, he couldn't move as fast as the world around him, and needed that helping hand to get him to safety.
Skippy will be gone a year in August, and I'm still struggling through all of the firsts without him, first deer season, first waterfowl season, first mushroom season and so on. But, Skippy would be happy to know that I moved three turtles to safety today, because "It's just good Karma"

3 comments:

Deb said...

Thats a really neat photo!! I'm never real fond of turtles...but then most of what I've seen are snapping turtles, which frankly I don't care if they all get run over...I know mean huh. Course I'm sure they proably aren't the ones you are moving either...if you want to keep your fingers. LOL

Gretchen Steele said...

Deb - I just move those snappers into my car, then into the tank at home, then into the crockpot! LOL

David Simmons said...

Gave a little turtle some Karma the other day during my bike ride. I just slowed down and gave him a little boot. He flew all the way across the road. Doubt he even saw me coming.... LOL

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