I help turtles across the road. I don't see as many now, but every spring when I'm driving around; especially close to the river, I do see them.

I park my car by the side of the road and dash out in the traffic, hoping some idiot won't hit me, and being a shield for the turtle and I grab the turtle and sprint to the side of the road he is heading and set him far back from the road, close to the river, so he can make his way to safety.

One time when I did this I returned to my car to find a short little man standing by it; he was almost elflike. His English was not good and my Spanish was worse, but he pointed to the sky and smiled and said "his eye is on you" and I understood that. Now I have no beliefs in gods, but I do not denigrate his and it was the thought that counted.

It made me feel good to find a kindred spirit by the side of the road and I carry the memory of his smile in my mind today.

Many years ago when my older boy was young he had a turtle that lived in a wading pool in the backyard one summer. Jamie had loved and cared for that turtle all summer, changing his water and giving him new rocks to climb on and feeding him catfood, which he seemed to like, moving him into shade when he thought it was too hot.

It was a wild turtle and as winter approached I was afraid that we wouldn't care for him right in the cold weather; so I broached to Jamie the idea that we should set him free and Jamie, always loving the turtle and with his best interests in mind, agreed.

We live in a town with rivers and creeks so one Sunday in October we drove to an immense city park that an enormous spring feeds into. In fact, the coldest pool in the world is located there, fed by the natural springs. It has tall waving grass growing on the bottom. We walked way into the woods along the creek, away from people, with him carrying his turtle, and when we felt it sufficiently safe and isolated he walked down to the creekside and set the turtle by the water.

The turtle paused for a moment as Jamie returned to my side. Then he slipped into the water that was his home and we watched him make his way to a rock. We took our eyes off him for a minute and when we looked back he was gone. I could tell Jamie didn't want to leave without one more good bye so we stood by the creek for a long while, searching with our eyes, and then we saw him. He hadn't left. He was just lower on the rock with just his head out of the water, his color blending in and him so still we had overlooked him. Jamie said his last farewell and we both felt good about the little turtle.

Years later I told this story to his wife and she told me that once, late at night, as she was returning home she saw him in his car in front of her. He pulled into a neighborhood park by their house that had a pond in the middle. She just couldn't figure out what he was doing and paused her car in the street to watch. She saw him open the trunk of his car and remove a turtle, which he took to the pond in the park.

Every year at Christmas I try to get cute things for my children's stockings. One thing I always get is a turtle for Jamie. Not a real turtle, sometimes a stone turtle, others a wooden one, once a turtle shaped car deodorizer to hang in his car, but always there is a turtle.

Each year, as he empties his stocking, he finds the turtle and he takes it out and unwraps it and holds it in his hand and says, "my turtle".

For one moment then, once a year, he is my little boy again.