I know, I recently did a little turtle blogging and much as I hate to obsess about things or repeat myself, I am forced, in this case, to do both. Last June, a turtle showed up at my house and after about a week of me feeding her grapes and tomatoes and little (dead) baby birds.... she dug a hole and laid five eggs in it. Did this right in front of me and two cats. Everytime she dropped an egg in the hole, she'd turn around and look at us as if to say Ja' see that? Which, we did, as none of the three of us could blink our eyes at that point. She filled in the hole, stayed another two or three weeks and left. I called her Myrtle at first, because it was funny and my friend Beverly suggested it, then later on, looking at the pictures I decided to call her Sunny. Fast forward through one hundred seven degree weather, to the end of August.

Five baby turtles, the size of quarters, were born (and eventually accounted for). They lived happily in the turtle condo, which I engineered myself, and eventually either escaped or were released, into the flower bed. End of story, or so I thought.

A couple of weeks ago I found first one (sitll tiny), then a second, in that same flower bed, hanging out under the lavender. Yesterday morning I went outside to water the flowers and to my surprise, right there where she originally laid the eggs - was their mama, almost a year later, to the day.

Now, turtles tend to look similar so I wasn't positive at first, that it was her. Then I sat down on the sidewalk with a peach and a knife to cut it with and (I swear this is true) she trotted over to me just like a puppy. Giddy. It made me giddy, like when that elephant sidled up next to me and put her trunk in my vest pocket. I was paralyzed by the joy of it. I thought the moment couldn't get any better and then I offered her a small slice of the peach, and she took it - right from my (brave-ass) money fingers. Seven times. I said I was giddy before, right?

Today, she ate two strawberries (out of my refrigerator; it must have been hell getting the door open), went for a long swim in her old turtle pool, and has agreed to spend another night. The question I'm asking now, is this: Do once in a lifetime things (like turtle midwifery) ever happen twice?
I don't know but we'll know before another week goes by. I'll keep you posted.