My first pet was the most freakin' adorable turtle in the entire universe. Her name was Lilly.
I honestly did love my turtle. She was so cool and sassy and she loved me back. She wasn't demanding like a cat or dog would be 'cuz she could chill in her tank but I swear to God she loved to snuggle when I'd take her out. She also won most of the turtle races we had and she had this little ticklish spot at the bottom of her shell and dang, she was a great listener to 'lil me. I pimped out her tank and she was really clever in finding ways to escape and she was perfect. She grew up to be quite big. When I first got her, I could close my hand with her in my palm. After a couple of years, there was not way I could carry her without using both of my hands. She reached a point where she surpassed my cousin's turtle's size and overall I was the proudest turtle mommy there ever was.
One day, there was a little neighbor girl that I babysat that offered me her turtle. It turns out they had to move homes and their new place wouldn't accept turtles. I (obviously) agreed and after persuading my mother on the brilliant idea, her mother came and dropped off the new turtle the next day. It turns out the younger turtle's name was also Lilly. (Another funny story, this neighbor girl ALSO copied my cousin's turtle's name after she asked my cousin what her turtle's name was. My cousin didn't like that either, lol.) So for a while I had two Lillies, but I always knew which one was MY beautiful Lilly.
Another year or so passes and I'm babysitting another little girl. I'm older and more mature; handling my business like the responsible 7th grader that I was. She was always captivated by my amazing turtles. One day she asks me if she can have one. Obviously the answer was no, so I ignored her. Her dad comes to pick her up and she tells him he wants a turtle. But not one from the store, no; ONE OF MINE. OBVIOUSLY the answer was NO but he turned and asked me which one I'd be willing to give away. I was shy and didn't know how to say "no" at the time (you live and you learn) so I stayed quiet. He asked my mom, who watched us from the kitchen and she in turn told him that the turtles were mine and it'd be my decision alone. (She definitely overestimated my courage at the time.) He turned and asked me again which turtle I'd be willing to give up. LET THE RECORD SHOW THAT THIS IS A GROWN MAN PUSHING AN AWKWARD KID TO GIVE UP HER TURTLE FOR HIS SELFISH FOUR-YEAR-OLD WHO HAS NO IDEA WHAT IT TAKES TO HANDLE A MAJESTIC POND TURTLE LIKE THE ONES I HAD.
I gave him my older Lilly because I felt like I had a responsibility to the baby turtle I promised to care for. To this day I get sick to my stomach thinking about my betrayal. Lilly must've felt it too because as we were exchanging hands, I accidentally flicked her and she bit me (which she'd NEVER done before and basically told me she'd never forgive me which made me cry like a baby from the shame). The man was a horrible person who ended up giving the turtle to a DIFFERENT NEIGHBOR OF MINE LIKE A YEAR AFTERWARDS! I learned to forgive him but I think what he did was a crappy thing to do to a kid.
I saw Lilly during one of my Christmas breaks from college. She looks so big and beautiful, but her tank was a disgusting mess. When I'm officially back home, the first thing I'm going to do is save my beautiful turtle and fix all my past mistakes because I still love her. Hopefully she'll find it in her heart to forgive me and come home with me where she belongs, because deep down, I believe she still loves me too.
-E
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