We  have a full household. Yes, we do. There’s Tom, myself, our 7-year old son, our 5-year old daughter, our dog Farley and two gerbils named Bob and Sarah. Sarah is actually a boy gerbil. Don’t tell my daughter this. We just didn’t want to have a bunch of baby gerbils running around. You know what I’m saying.

I’ve never been a big lover of animals…that is, until I met Tom. He loves animals. All sorts. His dream job would have been to be a veterinarian working with dogs, cats, turtles, snakes, what have you. He would have LOVED it. Instead, he’s the IT Director at a major corporate firm. Funny how life works.

Don’t get me wrong. Tom is very good at what he does. In fact, he’s good at anything to do with computers, whether it has anything to do with work or not. Take the time he fixed my dad’s computer when, while trying to relocate the computer, my mom rips the mother board out of the back of the unit. Yes, Tom fixed that. Or what about the time my computer crashed with all my catering stuff on it? I’m talking about thousands of hours of blood, sweat and tears down the drain (or so I thought) as I watched my monitor turn completely black for the last time. Yes, he fixed that situation too. But when it comes down to it, he would rather be fixing an injured animal over fixing a hardware component any day. This brought back memories of the time I tried to replicate Tom’s love for animals and tried to help one myself.

I went to pick the kids up at school one day last spring. As I was walking into the school from the parking lot, I noticed a turtle crawling along the curb, heading for a nearby sewer drain. I knew the turtle would not make it past the grates of the drain and fall to its doom. I wanted to help the turtle, but I get squeamish touching “wild animals,” if you will. As I looked around for something to use, I saw a plastic Target bag float by and grabbed it. I put my hands in it to use it as “gloves” and quietly approached the turtle from behind. My intention was to grab the turtle and carry him over to a nearby pond, thus setting him free and heroically saving his life. Okay, it didn’t quite happen that way.

The turtle was inches from the sewer drain and within moments, I knew he would be doomed. I quickly bent over and reached for him. I must have scared him because as I reached forward to grab him, he sensed my touch and lunged forward, sending him down that dreaded sewer drain. He landed with a thunk. My heart stopped because I figured he would be dead. I nervously leaned forward and looked down the drain. There he was. Alive as could be…but stuck in the sewer drain. I did the only thing I could think of.

I called Tom and asked him to pick up a head of lettuce on his way home from work…

I could only imagine the look on his face with his eyes rolled and with a sigh of exasperation, wondering why the heck I would need a head of lettuce. Tom finally drove into the parking lot, walked over to the drain and looked down. He looked over at me then quietly walked into the school.

Tom returned with a sledge hammer, crow bar and workman’s gloves that he got from the janitor. I moved out of the way and let him get to work. Before you knew it, Tom moved the turtle back to the safety of the pond and had the sewer drain cover put back on.

At the end of the day, the kids thought he was a hero and I knew that Tom felt a certain sense of joy knowing that he helped that turtle, one of God’s creatures. Okay, I may not have done the turtle any favors but I did save a head of lettuce.