Reflection On A New Home

I think I've written before about our tortoise Ed, who my wife found him wandering around our yard and decided to add him to our menagerie of pets. That was 2018. 

​Ed, whose original name was Sheldon, used to fit in the palm of my hand. He used to be shy and gentle which seems strange for a creature that roamed the earth when dinosaurs did. 

​In the six years we’ve had him, Ed has grown 10x his size and weight. He has eaten or destroyed nearly every plant in our backyard and has smashed our sprinkler system a few times.

Whenever people learned about Ed they often asked the same question. Not where did you get him, or why? But what are you going to do with him when you die?

​Our answer was always the same, "That's will be our grandchildren's problem." Now, for the record, I was the one adamant about keeping something that wasn't ours.

You see, Ed belonged to our neighbor Manny who used to carry his little Sheldon back and forth between Los Angeles and New York.

But when he couldn't find his pet, and didn't have the time to look further for him without missing his flight, Manny left his pet behind knowing the warm California sun and his garden was enough to sustain this shelled creature.

I can see why that makes sense. We could easily leave Ed for a week knowing there was enough grass and plants for him to devour while we were gone. Anyway... as soon as he realized  he was on his own, soon-to-be Ed found a space large enough to crawl out of. And in a blink of an eye, the world was now his. He hit the streets and never looked back.

Sadly, his joy and excitement didn't last long. I'd say he was on the lam for about five minutes before my wife found him on the sidewalk in front of our house. She scooped him up, and in her crafty cuteness convinced me we should keep him. No matter how I protested or pleaded it was a losing battle. 

Now on a side note, for my birthday she gave me a Russian Box Tortoise that we named Jimmy. I'm still not sure why she did that or thought it was something I wanted. About a year later, she got me another. A female we called Candy. Now, I had two small tortoises I didn't want or ask for living in a large glass aquarium in our guest room. Then we had a baby, and the tortoises found a new home in a preschool in Malibu. Not bad. That was about 23 years ago, and last I heard Jimmy and Candy are living their best lives there.

Well as Ed is coming into his teenage years, a time like with children, Kathleen and I decided it was time to have a resettlement plan for our peculiar pet who could potentially live another 150 years.

As our kids are growing up and moving out, we aren't sure how much longer we want to live here, in this particular house. We weren't sure if Ed should or would be a part of our new life. 

When Ed managed to get up onto our deck and started a head-bashing fight with our brand-new AC unit, that plan got expedited.

We knew that he would soon try to find a way to dig out of our yard (which, as I previously mentioned, he has completely destroyed) to find a mate. He's a guy after all. I was not up for breeding or constantly worrying about him running away again.

​So, my wife posted a little something about him on social media. And just like that, and this is where I get choked up, Ed was put up for adoption. ​

It’s amazing how many people want to adopt a pet tortoise. Within an hour of putting up an online post, we had dozens of willing takers. Sifting through the list of potential parents, my heart sink. What are we doing? Ed is one of us.

​Like my own children, he doesn’t know what he’s doing when he rolls over our shrubs like a Sherman tank or eats through our garden like a salad bar. Yet he knows me and loves to follow me around the yard. To be fair, I chase him around the yard too, cleaning up after him.

As we look for a new home for him, I am reminded of the one Jesus has made for us. Through him, we've become a part of a bigger story, cared for by a loving Creator who sees us as cherished family members.
 
We might cause a little chaos along the way, but God still loves unconditionally. And doesn’t seem to mind chasing after us, or fixing the things we ruin.

Well to wrap up this little tribute, we found Ed a new home, with a new family with lots of kids to look after him. Plus, acres of green grass to enjoy.

​In less than 24 hrs after making the post, Ed was gone. And my heart broke.

This is the last picture of the two of us. He was two feet long and weighed just under 50 lbs.

A week later Ed's new family realized that Ed was too strong and too smart for the place they had built for him. He was digging out at night and escaping. I like to think he was trying to find his way back to us, but I know it was just to go find some tortoise love in the wilderness. 

When the family contacted us to see if it was okay to give Ed to another family who already had a secure habitat for him, I found myself wanting him back. But like when we first got him, my pleas were overruled. (and in fairness, probably rightfully so).  It sucks. That's my protest. And we move on. 

With that said, it's been a month now. When I go to the backyard my still heart sinks into my stomach. When I have leftover salad, or vegetable scrape or lawn composts I think of how much joy he'd get running to munch on them. Of course, when I look at the plants in the garden coming back I find a little joy in my own heart. 

Ed will always be a part of who we are. In a few years, we might have another quirky creature to love. But for now, we can rejoice knowing that while we're finding a new home for our prehistoric pet, God has a new one waiting for us.