About 3 weeks ago, something happened that I want to share with you today. It is almost unbelievable to me how this all worked out in our favor. Some of you know that I have a tortoise. He has been with me for more than 40 years. For the warm season, he lives outside in his enclosure in our backyard. He gets food from the nearby meadow or “hunts” slugs. Also, I don’t need to clean anything in his natural environment. So, he is totally easygoing. But… he has a strong tendency to escape.

Since he is stubborn and enduring, he has no problem working on a plan for hours. He would find the only rotten slat in the fence and push against it until it gave way. For hours, he would try climbing small branches next to the fence and slide over it. He even managed to climb his hut and slip over the wooden fence (we still don’t know how he got up there, but we once watched him sitting on the rooftop). The problem is that he gets pretty far in only 30 minutes, so you don’t know where to start searching. He can hide under bushes, in the high meadows around our house, or even in our neighbor’s garden across the road. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. And he has become really good. After his latest successful attempt, he did not even leave a single trace.

The miracle is that we always found him, or someone found him before we even noticed that he went off again. We have been really lucky so far. But after he escaped three weeks ago, I thought that was it. We won’t see him anymore. When I wanted to make sure he was safe in his hut from a nearby thunderstorm, I noticed he was gone. It was already pouring like crazy, and after a few minutes, we got some hail, too, while my son and I were still looking for Herkules. He was not in our (big) garden anymore, that was clear. It started hailing again, but even stronger with the biggest hailstones we have had over here. We ran into the house and needed to wait until the worst was over. Then the search went on, and I went into the high grass of the cow meadow next to us, walking it stripwise, always slipping with my feet over the ground to feel if he was there. People who watched us came to help. After about an hour searching, one of the helpers called me. Someone from a house way up on the steep hill called out to us what we were searching for. They said, while they wanted to make sure everything was safe from the hail, they found a tortoise in their garden. I ran up there, and indeed, it was our Herkules.

This is now what amazes me: How many “coincidences” had to come together to make this mini chance happen to find him? Because of the thunderstorm, I noticed he was gone. Because of the hail, the people up on the hill went outside. Because of perfect timing, he was sitting there when the lady almost stumbled over him. I would have never considered searching for him up there. The only thing that comes to my mind is that he is simply such a precious being who deserves a good life in a safe environment and to be cared for well. And/or he shows us how precious he must be and how lucky we are to have him. I don’t know what it is, but I am endlessly thankful to see the Universe caring about the smallest creatures.

In Love and Light