Dear
Mom,
Not
only does watermelon remind me of you, it is my favorite fruit. I just bought
one at Trader Joe’s and I was a little worried it might not be very good since
it’s towards the end of the watermelon season. But oh, was it delicious. I
think that’s the last one I’ll purchase for the year so as not to ruin the
watermelon season for myself.
What
does this have to do with Myrtle the Turtle? Hang on, I’m getting to it.
I
cut up the watermelon and put the rinds in a bag to carry out to the
woods—hoping some critter would find it a tasty treat. And surprise, here’s
what I saw…
Can you see him in the lower left corner?
Here he is!
As
soon as I spotted it, it reminded me of my younger years when we’d go to Uncle
Harold and Aunt Mary’s farm. Once we got there, you’d let Ruthie roam wherever
we wanted and off into the woods we’d go… seemed like we’d always find a
turtle. Sometimes you’d let us take the turtle home.
Remember
when we found a three-legged turtle that we named Myrtle the Turtle? And Myrtle
the Turtle lived in our basement… that is until the day Myrtle was in the wrong
spot—where Dad pulled the car in and….
I
guess you cleaned up the mashed Myrtle before Ruthie and I got come from
school. You never told us what really happened, but that Myrtle must have
gotten away. We found out from Dad many, many years later that he ran over
Mrytle. I never held it against Dad, after all, it was an accident. But as an
immature kid, would I have seen it that way?
Do
you think that was the right decision looking back? To protect children from knowing
the truth—fearing it’d be too traumatic or that we would’ve resented Dad for
not being more careful?
I
did the same thing to my daughter, Rita. She was in Kindergarten when I broke
the news that her black cat, Spaz ran away. In reality, I drove Spaz to the
Humane Society. Trust me, I had a good reason why, and I didn’t feel Rita was
mature enough to understand. I too, had protected her from seeing the truth
about someone.
I
wonder whether I would have acted differently if you had told us the truth
about Myrtle?
