Rain Makes Flowers

______I witnessed the most pure and selfless form of humanity when I was home at my parents' earlier this summer.

______Picture it: Alabama, an early summer morning. Rain dropped down hard and vertical from the sky; I was in my dad's massive truck that rumbled along the paved concrete of my parents' driveway, popping and crunching pavement chunks as I turned out of the watery cul-de-sac and onto the neighborhood's main road. The wipers swished and squeaked against the windshield, pushing rain away only to be replaced by more of it.

______As the vehicle hummed along the pavement, in the middle of the road I noticed there was a large rock--nay, not a rock. A turtle. A large turtle covered in moss and pine straw, stuck and in dire need of LifeAlert to save its ancient soul. Its head and limbs were retracted into its lumpy shell, and clearly the intense rain took this guy by surprise.  I stopped and pondered whether to not to save this waterlogged turtle friend.




______Just as my car slowed to a halt, an old white Bronco's did as well on the opposite side of the road, it's wipers and its yellow headlights just barely scraping through the thick rainfall. A man dashed out of the car and slammed his front door shut to keep the interior dry, not minding how he instantaneously became a soggy waffle. He whipped open the back door of his truck, snapped on some blue latex gloves, and scrambled for the turtle through the pouring rain.

______I watched with high interest. It was like a movie scene playing before my eyes. A romantic comedy, perhaps. Perhaps this man was seducing me somehow by saving a turtle. If only such a thing could happen to me.

______Like Rafiki holding Simba up for all the animal kingdom to see, the man scooped up the clawing turtle and held him high and away from his body. He brushed the moss and pine straw carefully from the turtle's shell, revealing the pattern the way an archeologist delicately dusts bones at a grave. The man gave me a look. I gave him a look and clapped from the inside of my car, content that this turtle pal had been saved from his morning of misfortune.



______The man set the turtle down on a patch of grass beyond the curb the turtle was facing* and returned to his car. We both watched the turtle, now out of harm's way, and saw it peek its awkward little head out, first a little to test the rain, back in, and then out all the way. Within seconds, the turtle began stumbling away from the road's center. The Turtle Rescue Man was hidden behind waving wipers and a dark windshield, but I knew he was grinning for he was a hero that day.

______Not all heroes wear capes and stop the plight of bank robbers. But they can wear latex gloves and save a helpless turtle's life.

______*Friendly reminder that if you do decide to assist a turtle in need this turtle season, please don't relocate it to a different area! Rather, put it in the same direction it is going in out of harm's way, otherwise it's more likely to turn back around and get stuck in the center of a road again.

Dress: Charlotte Russe (similar)
Heels: Katrina by Sarah Jessica Parker
Holographic choker: Forever 21 (similar)
Tassel bracelet: handmade, similar
Gold bracelets: vintage