A Memorial to Turtles

Yesterday our household lost two of its occupants: Speedy and Flossy. We can only speculate, but it appears that they tried to eat insulation stored in the craft room.

Speedy crawling under his dish

Flossy in her prime

It’s not that I don’t love the other turtles, but these were the house favorites because they were outgoing. Flossy liked to climb things, and she liked to lay on pillows with the cats. Speedy liked to spit water at people and climb on top of the other turtles and just sit there. I always imagined it was a turtle dominance thing. But it was this outgoing, crawling into the face of danger, biting first and asking questions later behavior that led to their demise. The more docile turtles stayed where they belonged. They didn’t try to taste the glory of forbidden insulation. They were happy with their turtle food and their turtle home. No need for adventure.

There may be a lesson in our loss, but I’m not sure what it is. The docile turtles are still alive, but docile and dull, while the other two may be dead, but at least their lives were packed with adventure. I’m not sure which is better.

Jo