our 5 hour pet

i was taking a nap after church when i heard a knock at the door followed by jingling of keys.  next i heard gordon yell to me "jessica, come outside!  and bring your camera!  you won't regret it!"  hearing the excitement in his voice i got up, grabbed my camera and headed outside.

"i found something on my way home from church in the middle of the road.  i put it on our front lawn."

"what is it?" i asked.

"just come see.  it's on our lawn."

"is it a turtle?" i said jokingly. 

"how did you know?!" gordon replied.

i asked how he knew it was a turtle and not a rock when he was driving by.  he said literally every single day he is looking out for turtles.  he drives by rocks and thinks "is that a turtle?"

this time it was.  gordon said yesterday was "the coolest day ever!"

we're pretty sure, after much research and observation, that the turtle was a wild turtle.  and it was a yellow-slider. 

we took it over to gordon's parent's house so the little man could see it.  he was impressed to say the least.  he also named the little guy.  nemo.

nemo was released back into the wild later that evening.  i would be a liar if i said i didn't cry.  i get attached to things much too quickly.  and even though i know it's in turtle heaven on earth at the ogden wetland preserve, a part of me wanted to keep it.  a big part of gordon did too.  but we knew what was best for nemo.

and that's the story of our 5 hour pet.  and the coolest day ever.