purvis the nervous turtle

a couple of years ago we had a turtle show up in our yard. ben was probably three at the time and was quite fascinated with it. while inspecting it, he and tim (mostly tim) named the turtle purvis. purvis the nervous turtle.

and now, whenever we see a turtle on the road or one shows up at our house, it's referred to as purvis by our whole family. it's always been our little family joke that entertains tim and i. it was a little awkward when ben was telling someone at the parish picnic about the purvis we had seen on the way there.

yesterday on our way home from church there was a turtle in the road. not wanting to see it smashed, i was trying to coach it across the road as we drove by. frustrated by the fact that he just stayed tucked in his shell, i said, "come on purv, get out of there!" the boys chirped from the back seat, "yah, come on purv!" tim and i looked at each other and giggled.

this morning i found another large turtle in the yard.  all the kids were pretty enamored with it, petting it's shell, offering it leaves, and generally harassing it, thus making it stay tightly and patiently tucked in his shell. when we moved to another part of the yard he quickly made his getaway.

when ben wandered back over to where the turtle had been, he sadly reported that it was gone. the missing turtle led to an all out turtle hunt by the five littles (cousins were over this morning) complete with yelling his name loudly and shading their eyes while they peered into the distance. "PURVIS! PURVIS, WHERE ARE YOU???" my favorite was, " HERE PURVY, PURVY, PURVY! WHERE ARE YOU LIL BUDDY???" when i asked ben why he was calling to the turtle, if he thought the turtle would answer him or come running with his tail wagging, he giggled.

dear purvis: where ever you are, be safe little buddy.

yep, a turtle tale is what i came out of hibernation for. i wasn't quite sleepy enough for a nap while the boys had their "show time" but tired enough that i couldn't do any projects or muster much brain power.