It’s Turtles All The Way Down

Turtles are my spirit animal, and the first story/essay I ever wrote was about turtles. I was in first grade. It may have been an assignment, because my teacher gave me a “check-plus” and a “smiley face.” This story clearly meant a lot to me, since I have saved it all these years.

This first story was semi-academic, a bit analytical, and largely stream-of-consciousness. Professionally, I became an academic with two Masters degrees, and as an adult, most of my writing has been on the analytical side. When starting a new story or article, I begin in a stream-of-consciousness flow that I later edit into something more orderly and polished than my first essay about turtles.

My first experience with turtles was at Knott’s Berry Farm, an amusement park in Southern California, near Disneyland. In the 1960s, they had a giant Galapagos turtle that I remember sitting/climbing on as a preschooler. In elementary school, on a few occasions I got the tiny water turtles that were sold in pet shops. Sadly, their life expectancy was short.

In college, at the University of Nevada - Las Vegas (UNLV), I discovered a giant tortoise walking in the parking area behind my apartment. I figured that it must have wandered over from the large vacant lot that later became the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino — today it is the Virgin Hotel. This tortoise must have been at least three-feet long. Afraid that it would get run over by a car, I struggled to pick it up and get it to a grassy area. I called my boyfriend Gary, who owned a backyard tortoise since childhood that he named Tank. Gary took this giant tortoise out to the desert. I worried about him for a long time. Did he find food and shelter? Did he get into a skirmish with another turtle whose territory he invaded? Did he make friends in his new location?

As an adult, I had little direct experience with turtles, but I started collecting them on trips: a carved wooden turtle from Ensenada, a beaded turtle from Acapulco, and a carved stone turtle from Mazatlan. I got a turtle charm in Japan and ceramic turtles in Hawaii, along with a sterling silver turtle necklace that I wore frequently when I was in my 40s. Over the years, friends and family have gifted me an assortment of turtles, and a few years ago, my daughter painted (by numbers) a beautiful picture of sea turtles that adorns my bedroom.

In many cultures, turtles symbolize longevity, wisdom, and perseverance. They say that those who adopt the turtle as their spirit animal have an old soul, are open-minded, and live to teach others. The Iroquois and Lenape people of the Americas and the Hindus of India believe the earth resides on top of a giant turtle, while the Chinese believe that turtle legs hold up the heavens.

My most recent experience with a turtle was in Hawaii about five years ago. I was swimming near a jetty when I felt something solid brush up against me. I initially thought that another swimmer had bumped into me while snorkeling. (Unlike many people, I have no fear of sharks, and never even suspected that I was having an animal encounter.) When I looked to see what had brushed against me and saw this giant sea turtle, I felt special - like I was blessed. In Hawaii, people are forbidden to touch sea turtles, but this beautiful creature decided to touch me. My husband observed the entire incident from the shore. It remains one of the coolest experiences in my life.

The first story I ever wrote for Vocal - “Swim Lessons with Honu” - was about a turtle saving a man’s life. It was entered in the “Tall Tail” challenge. I was inspired by my turtle encounter in Hawaii and from a story I read or heard years ago about a young man diagnosed with cancer who swam out to a buoy with the intention of drowning, but he survived the night, returned to shore in the morning, pursued chemotherapy, and lived to tell his tale. In my version of this story, the man is saved by Honu, a talking turtle. Like my turtle story from first grade, “Swim Lessons with Honu” is both a story I was inspired to write and a creation of which I am extremely proud.