The Year of the Turtle?

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I don’t think that a ninth Anniversary should be this memorable. At least I wasn’t expecting it to be. It was another workday for Barrett but I added a surprise massage at the end of his day. But he gave me a paper that said, “pack your bags and be ready at 9:30am on Saturday for a night away without kids!” I was super surprised…but more on that later.

A little while later, my friend texted me that she and her kids were going to see sea turtles hatch that afternoon and asked if we wanted to come. Ummm…yes. When else can you see sea turtles hatch thirty minutes from your house? So I packed up the kids a little before 3 and we headed to Dorado with no idea on how all this would play out. We parked precariously on the side of a busy road and carefully shepherded the flock to the leatherback sea turtle protection beach. It was surreal for me to think that I once worked mapping out their nesting tendencies for a living and here I am going to see them in real life! These turtles are the largest of all sea turtles getting up to 7 feet in length. I got the kids to pose in front of a life-sized drawing and was mind boggling to see how they were dwarfed! These sea turtles are also the only ones without a hard shell…hence their name. They instead have a leather-like shell that actually decays when they die.

We were placed in a large group and then told that we had to walk 45-50 minutes down the beach to see the eggs… which translates, 45-50 minutes of carrying Ronnie and pawning off Lydia to be carried for the journey as well. This also meant 45-50 minutes back too! Well, we were there. Let’s do this. My hopes for a nice dinner disappeared, but I knew Barrett would understand.

They did not exaggerate the length of the walk. My arms were fatiguing holding my solid son, sweat was dripping, and sand stuck to all wet areas. Lydia was giving my friend a run for her money as she squirmed to sneak her freedom that never came. Annabelle ran freely in the waxing waves which scared me a wee bit since I couldn’t see her at all times. Conversation was screamed to overcome the sounds of the wailing waves and wind. Soon, I simply gave up to save my strength for my boy. We made it to the flag that marked the spot where a careful mom laid thousands of eggs, 3 feet deep in the sand, the night before. Our guides got on their bellies and commenced the barehanded dig. The mom was very cautious to leave the sand just as she found it, so if not for the guides spotting her earlier, they would have never found the nest.

Lets be honest, I understood nothing of what was being speedily said by our guides as it was all in Spanish. One of our new friends translated some of it, but mostly we just watched in wonder at the girls digging away. A small, golf sized egg was produced! We all cheered! We were told that these were fake or unfertilized eggs laid on top of the real eggs both as a protection buffer from predators as well as a needed air pocket. Each egg was carefully lined up to be placed back into the same location when we were done. We were all excited for her to pull out the live eggs, but were disappointed when we found out that all the remaining eggs were hatched and the babies were gone.

Meanwhile, on the kid front, Annabelle was watching with wonder while Ronnie and Lydia were throwing sand on innocent bystanders. When I told them no, Lydia picked up some more and threw it down. So I then commence my lack of freedom hold while she filed her complaint with deafening screams that easily overcame the sounds of the sea, wind, and chatter. It was getting close to dinnertime with at least an hour of travel ahead. This translated into me knowing I was fighting a losing battle. Thankfully, our new friend showed up and offered to drive us the two minutes back to my car. On our walk to the car, we stumbled upon another group that discovered a baby leatherneck! Annabelle got a first hand look while I contained my complaining child. I pulled Annabelle away when the stares became too much and we travelled to our car. It was close to 5:30 so my hopes of having a nice Anniversary dinner ready for Barrett were dashed. And the thought of taking our sand covered sweaty selves to a restaurant knowing my kids were tired and cranky floated away. We carefully slid into the non-traffic side of our car and headed home.

Barrett thoroughly enjoyed his massage but hit traffic on the way home so we all arrived home at the same time. We celebrated our nine years over microwave dinners and a funny story of a Puerto Rican cultural experience went awry! It was worth it. But our celebration wasn’t over…Barrett had an amazing plan ahead. I will tell you about that later! Meanwhile, I praise the Lord for His amazing creation filled with landscapes, animals, and plants that only a creative God can make. And I’m thankful for life’s funny adventures that happen with the help of a friend.

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