Randy Wray’s Blog

Yesterday, while walking to a meeting at the church building, I found a baby turtle. This was an unexpected find, especially in our neighborhood. The turtle (which was very small) was on the sidewalk and looked parched. Don’t ask me what criteria I used to determine the critter was parched.

I picked the turtle up and took him/her to the office with the intent of showing him to the kids. I got a large plastic bowl, filled it with dirt, grass, and a water bottle capful of water. Cut the requisite air vents in the lid and placed the container in a light muted region.

As you might guess the kids loved looking at the turtle and immediately began to question, “can we keep it?” Kind of reminds me of what Beth said when she first met me: “He’ so cute, can I keep him?” Well, she remembers it one way and I have my own version!

I found the turtle right next to an abandoned lot, the eyesore of the neighborhood. Since we had a huge mid-west style thunderstorm Saturday night, I figured the turtle had been washed down onto the sidewalk and was having difficulty returning to its lush, forest like surroundings.

I explained to the kids that removing this turtle from it’s “natural habitat” meant caring for and providing daily food for him/ her. That the decision to keep the turtle meant the decision to be responsible for the well-being of the turtle not just for the next few days but for the life of the turtle.

Surprisingly, the kids quickly decided that it was better to put the turtle back from whence it came (though they did not use the word whence) that the turtle could remain a wild turtle. Come on sing with me now: “Born Free . . .” I hope they take more time making the decision to care for their aging parents!

How about you? Do you have any fond memories or funny stories of finding animals you’ve wanted to keep?

By the way, no turtles were harmed in the writing of this blog.