What I remember as a child was she did.
It was July of 1968, and I was five years old. As was the tradition my mother and I spent two weeks during the summer with my Grandma. On this particular day we were headed somewhere on a gravel road in rural southern Iowa. My mom on the passenger side of the bench seat of the car, my Grandma driving and me in the middle
And then all of a sudden she stopped .
"There is a snapping turtle in the road," she said, she then she looked over her shoulder and threw the car in reverse.
What I knew about snapping turtles was that if it somehow grabbed onto you it would not let go unless it was dead, or the body part it had taken in its jaws was severed from your body.
I imagined having one of my fingers chewed off, or worse, the turtle grabbing onto my nose, or cheek- leaving a disfiguring scar. What was clear to me at the time was that a snapping turtle was a potentially dangerous animal, an animal better left undisturbed.
Apparently, my Grandma did not share in my rational fear, and to my terror got out of the car.
"Come and look," she said. Are you completely insane?, I thought.
As an adult, I can't tell you if the turtle weighed 300 lbs, I can tell you as a child, it seemed as though it did.
My Grandma got a branch from the ditch. The turtle hissed and lunged toward the branch grabbing it in his mouth...and then my Grandma did the most amazing thing I had ever seen in my life, she pulled the turtle off the ground and like a shot put propelled the branch, with the turtle attached, into the ditch.
Then in an effort to show some good will, she said to him, "Go east there is water there."
In the last 40 years I have relived this event in my mind many times, there are events in life which change who are are, and events in your life which change who you will be, for me this event was both.
On that hot summer day in July my Grandma showed me that on our journeys there may be obstacles, and if there is one in your path, stick a plank in its mouth and heave it into the ditch.
My Grandmother raised five children, my uncle Steve worked in Washington DC with those at the highest levels of power, my mother became the mayor of a city of 45 thousand, my aunt Sharon travels to the middle east to take part in archaeological digs, my aunt Judy scuba dives, vacationing anywhere there is water- in the middle of her life, my aunt Kathy changed hers- becoming a teacher.
It has occurred to me it may not have been prudent of my Grandma to toss that turtle in the ditch- but clearly we are not a prudent tribe- there is nothing prudent about-leaving your employment up to a fickle electorate, or exposing yourself as a public servant to public scrutiny, or to go digging in the ancient dirt during the summer in Turkey- or strapping an artificial breathing device on your body and jumping into deep water- or leaving the comfort of a life you had become accustomed to try something different.
Or becoming a parent to twin girls at the age of 45- It may not be prudent- but then I think about all we would have missed...
What I have come to know and accept is none of us really has a choice, we are heir to a turtle thrower- it is our inescapable legacy.
As an child I can't tell you if the turtle headed east or not- as a adult I will tell you- I think he did.
