Bio
I'm a writer, photographer and author living in the Houston area. You can see my work at Chookooloonks.And you can buy my book, The Beauty of Differe...
 
 
 
 

What’s Hot on BlogHer.com

The Circle of Life

  • Share This Post
  • submit
  • 2
  • Sparkle (
    )
     

Contributing Editor Karen Walrond also blogs at her personal blog, Chookooloonks, and her green shopping blog, Emerald Market.

This past weekend, my husband, daughter and I went to the north coast of Trinidad to witness the nesting of the giant leatherback turtles. There's something about going out onto the beach at nightfall with one of the local guides, and watching the dark, lumbering shadows make their way out of the water, find the perfect spot, and each lay 80 - 100 eggs, before making their way back to the deep.

It makes you feel small. Tiny. But important. And part of something so huge as to defy comprehension.

At dawn the following morning, we awoke and made our way back to the beach to see the last of the evening's turtles returning to the sea. And lest my husband and I think that we were the only ones who understood the significance of what we'd witnessed, as we watched one of the turtles make her way into the waves, our little daughter, Alex, suddenly waved her two-year-old arms and cried out into the still, quiet morning:

"BYE-BYE, MUMMY TURTLE!"

[img_assist|fid=415|thumb=0|alt=grandriviere leatherback]

(This post is also cross-published at The Pan Collective.)

  • 2
  • Sparkle (
    )
     

Comments

Post comment as twitter logo facebook logo
Sort: Newest | Oldest
Kalyn Denny 5 pts

It sounds like a wonderful experience.

Kalyn Denny

Kalyn's Kitchen ( http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com )

nellewrites 5 pts

and indeed, bye bye mummy turtle!

I'd love to witness this... reminds me of Sue Monk Kidd writing on witnessing such an event in Dance of the Dissident Daughter.

Thank you for sharing!

nelle ( http://liberalfeministtranniedyke.net/ )