Moonlight and Mosquitoes and Ghost Crabs - Oh My!

While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about. ~Unknown

Forever and a day ago I was selected as the school's Teacher of the Year (TOY, as we jokingly refer to it). It's one of those "honors" that is intended to recognize one's accomplishments, but leads to an abundance of "duties". There is this "packet" that must be completed prior to the fun-filled interview. This "packet" requires one to spend an extraordinary amount of time writing essays about her philosophy of education and how she puts it into practice. Sounds like good stuff, huh? One particular essay truly got me going. I cannot remember the prompt and I haven't read it in years (even though I recently dug out my packet for Lucky Luscious who received the honor of completing the packet this year - yay!!!!). However, I think the one essay is one of my favorite pieces of writing I have ever created. I'm not sure if it's that well written, but the emotions I felt and tried to convey in that essay were extremely powerful. Essentially, I tied my feelings towards education to an experience that I had on a "turtle watch" with my younger brother. (turtle watch: sea turtles lay their eggs on our beaches. the park service marks the nests and ropes them off from the rest of the beach. they calculate - to the best of their abilities - when the turtles will hatch and get volunteers to sit with the nests to assist the turtles to the ocean.) It is an amazing experience! I have spoken about turtle watching for years. Daughter has an affinity for all living creatures and hopes to be a veterinarian someday. She has eagerly awaited the day when she would be able to go on a turtle watch.....last night was the night. Honestly, after a long week at work, it was not at the top of the list of things to do on Friday night....a 45 minute drive each way, having to be on the damp beach from approx. 7 until 12am (of course the rain we need so desperately happened to fall yesterday and threatened throughout the evening), traipsing through the vegetation to get to the beach, BUGS.....get the picture?! Nonetheless, I was willing to sacrifice my own selfish desires for rest to go to the turtle watch with Daughter. Rather than coming home before the big event (b/c it's 15 minutes AWAY from our destination), we remained at school (it wasn't like I didn't have a TON of stuff to do there!!) and then went to dinner. I couldn't think about the last time that Daughter and I actually went to dinner together! We asked each other Trivial Pursuit questions that were on the table and giggled about dumb girl stuff. Due to my miscalculation of time, we had to rush to pick up my brother....not allowing enough time for a last pit stop (which I regretted later as I had to "visit the dunes") or drinks.....not that Daughter really wanted one once she heard that our nests were not even remotely close to the rest area at Pea Island Refuge. It was dusk as we parked the car on the side of the road and trekked through the underbrush to the wide, flat expanse of the beach. In the distance we saw our fellow turtle-watchers and briskly walked to meet them. The four of them had already set up the fencing around the nests leading to the ocean. It is intended to reduce the predators (mainly ghost crabs) and assist the turtles to their destination. There was just enough light left to make out the fencing and nests as it was still quite overcast. The oldest woman in the bunch let Daughter listen through a stethoscope that was buried into the sand. Every now and then we could make out "scratching" noises as the tiny turtles circled their flippers to dig themselves out of their sandy nest. With no visible evidence of turtles and the vicious attack of starving mosquitoes desiring our blood as nourishment, we walked away from the nests that were close to the dunes and set up "camp" about halfway between the dune line and the ocean. We sprayed ourselves with insect repellent (30% DEET) which just didn't seem to do the trick quickly enough. My brother had some device that warmed a scent that was intended to repel them.....that seemed to work for a bit. Gradually as we talked and caught up on the events in our lives, breathing in the fresh, salty air laced with the stench of Chip's cigars, (and talking to Hubby on the cell phone - no, I couldn't totally abandon modern life for an evening), the clouds cleared to reveal an array of stars. The beach was illuminated by the suns rays reflecting off the moon. Periodically we checked on the nests. We could still hear scratching (the one woman....the oldest one who I shall refer to as Black Lung b/c her smoker's cough made Daughter and I into giggle fits while devising new nicknames for her....the night would be silent until the hacking began....Brother even said that in the light of day she reminded him of Magda from There's Something About Mary.....was even timing the sound of activity as if she were timing labor contractions), but saw no evidence of turtles. Daughter and I continued to lie on the beach gazing at the beauty of the stars, giddy as we saw shooting stars and UFO's (ha ha) gliding through the air. Ghost crabs were scurrying all over the beach. Their speed is amazing and they seem to glide over the sand rather than scurry over all the indentations. During one lull in the conversation I felt something on my leg. I figured it was just another bug or my imagination. Alas not! It was at least one ghost crab (there may have been two since there were two together when the flashlight was directed at my legs). That sent Daughter into one of the chairs we had lugged with us. As the time drifted by, the night air grew damper and cooler. The wind shifted and brought yet another attack of the vicious bugs. At some point Brother went and hung out with the other group of people. Our exhaustion began to take over and Daughter returned to the blanket on the ground. We snuggled together (a treat as any parent of a tween knows) and tried to listen, but couldn't make out most of the conversation.....with the exception of the phlegmy coughs leading to more nicknames. We didn't need to worry about her approaching unexpectedly since more often than not the glow of her cigarette allowed us to track her. I guess we stink at turtle watching because we both drifted off for a short bit of time. Thank goodness for the others because we would have been goners between the blood-thirsty bugs and the ghost crabs. ;0) I know I wasn't asleep long, but it was actually restful and delightful to nap under the stars on the serene beach. When I awoke, I heard Black Lung speculating that the turtles would emerge around 3 am. 3am?! I desperately hoped that she was not going to be a die-hard turtle watcher, determined to stay despite the fact that we could leave at midnight. As badly as I wanted Daughter to experience the nest "boil", I wasn't sure if we were prepared to stay until 3. Black Lung and the rest of the entourage decided to call it a night! YAY! We rolled up the fencing. When I went to put the roll where it belonged, there was Black Lung taking one last listen and pounding the sand. I think she was trying to make the turtles pop through the sand. My thought: WHY? We just disassembled the fences!!! Everyone gathered their belongings and hiked back to the road. It was a peaceful, enjoyable night. Although it was late and I was exhausted and had a long drive, I couldn't help but think about that essay I had written years ago about my brother and me on the turtle watch. My heart smiled thinking about how Daughter was now a part of it as well. No turtles? No problem. The whole evening was one I will cherish for years to come and that's what is most important to me.....except there is another opportunity to go next Friday night...............