A heroic tale

My husband rocks.

The other day, he did the most absolutely amazing thing, in my book anyway.

You see, at the school where he works, there is a lovely courtyard nestled between the buildings. There are some very special inhabitants of said courtyard – two precious-most-adorable-box-turtles. Some of you are probably scratching your head & wonder since when are box turtles adorable? In this girl’s book ALL turtles are adorable, and yes, I admit to being totally biased on that fact. However, let’s just keep that little tidbit between you and I; Toby Turtle would be insanely jealous if he found out he wasn’t my one & only. Anyway, these precious-most-adorable-box-turtles reside in the courtyard year round, even hibernating during the winter season, and have thrived there for several years.

The other morning as my beloved was performing his daily rounds, checking on the building before the chaos of the day began, he had the most intense urge to go check on the turtles. Call it fate, or some cosmic force pulling him to where he needed to be in the universe at that exact moment, or even a mere coincidence if you must – whatever it was, he listened to his intuition and headed to the courtyard pronto.

As he entered the courtyard, (get your Kleenex ready) one of the precious-most-adorable-box-turtles was smack dab in the middle of the murky, muddy, slimy, algae filled pond, completely still. First impressions were NOT pleasant by any means; the husband rushed over to assess the damage and free the turtle from his watery grave, certain that the little fellow had gone to meet his maker. Unlike Toby Turtle, who is a swimmer extraordinaire, box turtles are not aquatic and can drown in the smallest amounts of water.

Imagine the husband’s surprise & delight when the little fellow lifted his head up as he was being freed to look at his rescuer, as if he was using his last ounce of strength to convey the sentiment “thank you God!”

Precious-most-adorable-box-turtle was gently placed on dry land, and it’s rumored that he gazed at his rescuer with an intensely grateful grin. Precious-most-adorable box turtle #2 came out of hiding to sit with precious-most-adorable-box-turtle #1, and there they sat together for a good portion of the morning, until both had recovered from the trauma and had enough energy to go about their normal business of basking, eating, snoozing, and more basking. Lather, rinse, & repeat.

As my husband recanted this entire experience to me, naturally I gushed about what a hero he was, and peppered him with hugs & kisses. It was a good day.

One can only imagine the thoughts of desperation and hopelessness this little box turtle must have gone thru, and for how long his ordeal lasted.  At the moment when all hope was lost, and he more than likely accepted his fate, a miracle happened. Did he expect that miracle? Highly doubtful. Was his dire situation drastically changed in one minute’s time? You bet it was.

Next time you are feeling as if you are stuck in the mud, unable to free yourself from whatever bonds may be holding you down, when all seems hopeless – remember the story of the precious-most-adorable-box-turtle. In one split second, a miracle happened in his life & he was given another chance. Another chance to learn from his mistake, grow from it, and to never repeat it – no looking back, no regrets, simply moving forward and embracing each new day and all the wonders contained within.

Miracles really DO happen. We just have to slow down enough to watch for them, or we might miss them.

Where's the love??

At the risk of sounding cliché, I simply cannot think of a better title for this blog posting. Before I lose you completely, please let me elaborate on my experience that has prompted this post….

Today my hubby and I decided it would be a great day to hit the bike path for a nice leisurely bike ride; the weather was perfect and we wanted to take it all in. Naturally, many other fitness enthusiasts shared the same sentiment as we did, and the path was quite congested with other cyclists, walkers, runners, and even the occasional rollerblader. It was an idyllic scene - the sunshine was vibrant & warm, birds were singing lovely springtime melodies, and I wished time could stand still so the experience would never end.

That is, however, until we set upon our ride………how quickly the mood changed! Since we were not in any hurry, many cyclists felt the need to pass us. No big deal, I understand the need-for-speed, and we did our best to accommodate and line up in single file so they could safely pass. More often than not, as we were passed, there was no “thank you” or acknowledgement of any sort. Hmmmm….you’re welcome?

Even worse was the attitude of bicyclists that were going the opposite direction. I strive to be a friendly person, and always say “Hello” to those I pass; after my greeting was ignored several times, I decided to perform an experiment and keep track of my reciprocated greetings. I am so saddened to report that my success rate was less than 40%!! This, of course, is taking into account the hard core athletes who are “in the zone” and merely didn’t hear my greeting, or were conserving their oxygen levels by not speaking; I’ve been there/done that, so they were readily excused in my experiment.

 Nope, I am talking about the Sunday-driver type who were out there like me, chilling out & going for a nice bicycle ride on a lovely day. Several of them appeared to have a phobia about even establishing eye contact with me, and when the words “hello” were muttered from my lips they sped up as fast as their legs would carry them to escape the uncomfortable encounter. This can really give a person a complex, ya know!

Did I have B.O.? Well, I was sweating a bit, but a quick armpit check assured me that wasn’t the case. Spinach in my teeth? No, nothing nestled between my choppers. What could it be? Me?

As I carried on this internal dialogue in my head, and was able to convince myself that it wasn’t ME, I eventually resigned myself to the fact that folks just aren’t as friendly as they used to be. Perhaps in this day and age we are all so consumed with our own lives & problems that we fail to realize that there are OTHER human beings on this planet too. How tragic, to miss out on so many opportunities to meet someone new, exchange a smile, perhaps even make a wonderful new friend.

This does not mean, however, that everyone is completely self absorbed; I did receive several enthusiastic “Hello’s!” & “How ya doing?” that I appreciated immensely and generated a grin from ear to ear on my face. I even received a very helpful tip from a kind man who told me that I “would benefit from having my seat raised just a tiny bit”. Cool, thanks!

So, the moral of this story is that I will continue to greet all those I meet, whether it be in the grocery store, walking my dog in the neighborhood, or bicycling down a crowded bike path on a gorgeous day, and I readily encourage you to do the same.

Even though I may be rejected by many, I will embrace and relish the folks who accept & return my greeting, and cherish them so much more. Life is good!