Gone and Back

I've returned from my travels.  It is so good to be home.  So much has happened in the time that I've been gone.

What I do want to share now is that Good Hope is gone.  I'm so sorry to tell you this. She was never out of the woods, we all knew that.  But, on her own turtle schedule she held on and seemed to make progress simply by stabilizing; or so it seemed.  But then one morning just this week past, she was gone.  As quickly as she came into the lives of her caregivers, she was just as quickly gone.

I cannot probably express the sadness and frustration that all who were involved in her caregiving felt upon her loss.  This was a turtle who will not be forgotten.... although doubtful any of them are ever forgotten.  She touched lives with her seemingly strong will to survive, despite incredibly long odds.

When I first heard about Good Hope and her story, I thought about the children's story Charlotte's Web.   To this day it's still one of my favorite stories. It was also the first movie I ever saw at a drive-in (for you young-uns, you can "google" that...), actually it was a double feature: Charlotte's Web and Snoopy Come Home.  Anyway, I thought about that story because of the heroine in the story, Charlotte.  Towards the end of the story, she is tired, very tired.  She has worked all night laying her eggs, spinning her special web, and she's just tired, too tired to do much anymore.  And, Wilbur, her best friend for whom she has been spinning special webs to help save his life ("some pig" "excellent") is distraught that she is done and ready to die. Wilbur is crushed, begging her not to go.  He's crying and crying.  Charlotte however is completely at peace. She explains she has done her work, and her time has come.  She explains to Wilbur that she is fulfilled in her purpose, and she has a special surprise that he will find out about, but that she must go.... that she cannot stay.  She dies, and yes Wilbur is crushed.  He takes her little egg sac off the wall at the country fair where they were, (her special webs did indeed save Wilbur from slaughter) and carries it back home with him to the barn as he is transported in the truck.  Eventually the eggs do hatch.  Wilbur is elated! They're all over the place.... little Charlottes! As fast as he becomes elated, he is crushed yet again as they all begin to float away on their tiny little webs.  He's crying again, wondering why why why. After all the little Charlottes are gone he hears a tiny voice, then another, then another.  He looks and sees that 3 tiny Charlottes have remained.  They do not want to leave, they want to stay with him.  He gives them names, and they become friends.  He is happy again.

I thought of that story because I didn't know Good Hope's name yet, and I knew so many people were trying very hard to save her and her eggs.  And, I thought that I would call her Charlotte because she had these eggs which everyone wanted to save, and she was trying to lay. But she was so tired too.  She tried to lay her eggs, and she did lay some.  I learned her name was Good Hope, but inside I kept calling her Charlotte.  Then, as she began to improve, I believed more and more in her Good Hope name (Good Hope was the name of the beach where she was found).  I stopped thinking about her as Charlotte, at least for a while.  Then she died.

Good Hope's eggs have been harvested and are being incubated.  No one knows for sure if the rest of her eggs are fertilized or not, but they are being treated as if they are.  For now, it's just a matter of mourning her loss, and hoping for the future through her eggs.

I am not the only one who attached a lot of hope and energy to this turtle.  So many people cared and for that I'm personally grateful. But, I'm so sad because I understand what it means to lose even one of an endangered species such as an egg laying female green turtle like Good Hope.

Rest in peace Charlotte.  You were tired and it was time to go.  You shall not be forgotten, and I will be watching and waiting for your own little Charlottes in due time.