A turtle a day.....

....keeps melanoma away!!!!  Well, I don't really know about that.  But, since the advent of Sally (check the blog post on July 12 and 13, 2010 for more of Sally the loggerhead turtle....post skin, brain and lung melanoma....but PRE tonsilar melanoma and my vaccine/anti-PD1 trial) and really before that even, when Rosie (Yentle) created the garden by Yertle creek (where she discovered a turtle shell, bleached completely white)....my family has inundated me with turtles.  Turtles.  Sometimes referred to as a living fossil, sea turtles appeared on earth more than 200 million years ago, and even today, live to be around 152 years of age.  In a multitude of cultures, turtles depict longevity, steadfastness, tranquility and support.  As I sit at my desk, I see over 15 turtles.  The silly painted ones with bouncy heads on a wire.  The beautiful one of carved wood with shell inlays depicting the Chinese zodiac from San Francisco.  The funny clay one.  The tiny porcelain baby one. At least four carved from various stones.  The smooth, flat good luck one.  The newest silver turtle with a lady bug catching a ride.  The ornate pill box, topped with two.  The horrifying, but ever so sparkly, turtle broach.  A wooden box, with a silver turtle pendant housed within, and engraved with a turtle without.  There are turtle earrings.  At least two other turtle necklaces.  A turtle refrigerator magnet from St. George.  And if they won't bring a girl longevity and peace.....surely seeing at least one turtle daily for the past weeks definitely should.  Perhaps, it is merely due to the fact that my world has become a virtual rain forest.  But, I'd like to think, that perhaps, Sally and my peeps are right.  The turtle world is looking after me.  There's the turtle I moved out of the road on my way to work this morning.  The turtle digging next to my peonies last week.  The teeny, tiny one that thought it could hide beneath my pulmonaria (lung wart...love that name!!) by Yertle creek.  The big box turtle, with its neck stuck way out above the grass in a neighbor's yard as we ran by.  The turtle calmly ignoring B, as he peered at it rudely on Sunday.  And....all the others....

Thanks to all my terrapin friends.  You're bound to do my heart and soul at least as much good as that extra cup of coffee.  Thanks, Sally. - c