Nature & Outdoors
Sea Turtles Saved My Life
And the cycle continues beyond measure
It had been a tough few years.
I became a single mother when my son was not quite two years old. I lost my first husband to a very public suicide, and it took time before I was ready to work again. In fact, if it hadn’t been for my son, I am not sure what I would have done. So maybe he saved my life? But the loggerhead sea turtles that nest on Anna Maria Island definitely deserve some credit as well.
I can safely say I know what it feels like to stand on the brink of insanity. The trauma from that sudden loss and the surrounding circumstances was so biting that even a decade later, the remembrance of it is visceral. The healing process was jagged, with intense peaks and valleys. But the requirements of parenthood meant that I never went completely over the edge. And, eventually, in order to heal, I had to resume work.
When my mother saw that the weekly newspaper where we live, on a barrier island on the west coast of Florida, was hiring, she suggested I apply. It was time. Everyone close to me knew I needed to find a purpose outside of raising my son and just surviving.
I had applied to work there 10 years prior when I moved home shortly after finishing graduate school. That time…
