Suzie's Little Turtle

**This post has been waiting a long time to get published. I finally got around to editing it, so here it is."

This past Spring Chuck and Suzie were in the Farm and Garden store. Suzie was playing around with the cement figurines while Chuck took care of business.

"Daddy, can I have this turtle?" Suzanna asked

Without looking up, Chuck assumed she was talking about one of the figurines, told her "No" and asked her to put it back.

The store owner noticed what Suzie had in her hand and commented to Chuck with a tinge of surprise in his voice," That's a real turtle."

Chuck turned his attention to Suzie and realized she was holding a live turtle no bigger than the size of a quarter. Upon discussion, Chuck and the store owner assumed that the little fella came in on one of the pallets of plants. The store owner happily agreed to letting Suzie keep her new friend. She proudly took "Tiny" home and Chuck helped her put him in a little bowl of water.

When I got home from work Suzie introduced me to Tiny. We decided to give him a permanent home in our landscape pond just off the front porch. Every day we would go out and check on Tiny, watching him swim around, and occasionally pick him up... Suzie loved to catch him...

As the summer drew to a close I was curious how Tiny would survive through the winter months. I googled the issue and discovered that water turtles hibernate and our little family member should be ok to stay in the pond.

Last week the family was outside doing some yard work. I realized we hadn't checked on Tiny for a couple days so Suzie and I walked around front to visit him.

My eyes skimmed the water's surface looking for Tiny's little head to pop up. Suzie pointed, "There he is" but I still didn't see his head. And then I saw him. Floating. Upside down.... Ooooh Nooo... Sadly I had to explain to Suzie what this meant. Little Tiny passed away.

Suzie burst into tears and ran into my arms. She did more than cry, she wept. My heart broke for her. She didn't cry this much when her bunnies died! I carried her around to the back of the house so we could find Daddy. Everyone came to see why Suzie was crying.

Suzie wanted to bury Tiny along the back fence line next to Max and Ruby... the bunnies that died last year... I got a plastic cup from the kitchen and fished Tiny out of the pond while Chuck dug a little whole. Suzie said goodbye to Tiny through her tears and we buried our little friend.

**** I've done a little more research on turtles and their survival. I think I will surpise Suzie this Spring with a new little turtle friend.