The rain ricocheted off the window like pebbles off a windshield but I couldn't hear them, for I was transfixed on the television screen; captivated by a ritual of evolution that had existed far longer than my 10 year-old mind could comprehend. It was my first documentary, on Green Sea Turtles and it was in the Galapagos.
I watch her flippers struggle through mountains of sand; she is digging her nest. Swollen with exhaustion, she lays her clutch. The beautiful opaque balls fill the golden sands and remind me of the perfect Easter basket. She is near death now, and I am sad. She delicately covers her eggs and then recedes to the sea; her voyage near over and her young, just beginning.
Why is a trip to the Galapagos on my bucket list? Because this, is a true story.
My life has been dedicated to animals. I work tirelessly to protect them every day. I want to travel to the Galapagos to feel my heart pound when a sea lion barks. To see my fiancé gasp when a whale crests the ocean's surface. It will be our honeymoon and these moments will shape our lives.
A visit to this treasured sanctuary with a smaller, eco-friendly organization is the only way that 10-year-old girl could even have imagined it.
The only footprint I want to leave, is in the sand.
