Kissed by a Turtle

The hurricane warnings caused a panic here. Hurricane Felicia was roaring at 160 mph last week in the Pacific. My friend Vicki told me last Saturday, as we were about to go to the theater in Kona to see Nora Ephron’s movie about the iconic Julia Childs, “the reason it’s so still today is because the hurricane is fizzling out”.  Oh , that’s good news!
The film was great, but not a popcorn flick unless you brought your own homemade with real butter.
Well, the stormy weather did change the contour of the ocean’s edge leaving tide pools or little wading ponds about 15 feet off shore. This hair of mine was a tangled mess that morning so I decided to play mermaid and brush my hair in one of those little pools.
Luxuriating in the warm waters at the Mauna Kea, I began untangling my curls. Silky, salty water caressed me when suddenly I felt something brush against my foot.  It felt like a gloved hand around my ankle. Looking to the left I saw a rather large fish swim by. I thought it might be a Humuhumunukunukuapuaa because of it’s size. It startled me, so I clumsily made my way back to shore. A few people gathered around me (and my smoothe, wet hair) to ask what caused me to dart out so quickly. Just then, we all witnessed a crystal clear wave and in it was a turtle, spread eagle in flight, right inside of that wave! That’s what was swimming by me.
“I was kissed by a turtle”, I said. What an amazing feeling that was. I felt like a mermaid in that moment, and I was.