In and Out of Shells

Loggerhead Sea Turtle Hatching Photographer: Donna A. Dewhurst. Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

I have a turtle collection. Many media: coconut shell, coal, gemstone, ceramic, glass, wood, crystal, cloth. You name it: I might have it. Turtles became my totem many years ago. I had a pet turtle in childhood, Phyllis. And I loved her and showed my love by powdering her (as she felt wet, being in water most of the day). Then, I would put her in dark places (typically, one of my dad's shoes). Buy one turtle totem, buy a hundred...before one knows it, they have proliferated all over the house.

An expression I disliked passionately when my grade school teachers used it: "We would like to bring her out of her shell." How many times in life have I, or anyone, ventured out of the shell...and then wished there was a way back in? But the shell is gone. Turtles have a distinct advantage in that the shell travels along. Imagine having that flexibility...to stretch out, check out the place, pull limbs and head back in. A person can reinvent himself/herself only so often. Many places on earth, there really is nowhere to hide.