week 13: Sheldon

In the summer of 2014, my boyfriend sent me a picture of the smallest and cutest creature I'd ever seen. A red eared slider turtle the size of a quarter. He asked me if I thought the little guy was cute which of course, I did. Then he asked me if I wanted him which of course, I did. I was staying in California for the summer, but he told me that when I got back to Arizona the turtle was mine. I was so excited to come home to my brand new pet. I'd always had cute animal friends in the house. We had dogs, cats, bunnies, frogs, fish, and even rats, but never a turtle. Let alone the cutest turtle in the world. Since my boyfriend was the one who bought him out of the back of a van on the side of the road for $5, I let him have the pleasure of naming him. I should have known this was a bad idea because the last time I let him name a stuffed animal, he chose the name Beast. Like what the hell is that, right? But anyways, I let him name this turtle Sheldon. As if there aren't already a million turtles named Sheldon in this world. He was proud of the choice so I decided to let it slide, even though upon recent research we've discovered that Sheldon is a girl. Oh well. Before I arrived home from vacation, my boyfriend went out and got Sheldon the cutest little habitat. It was a circular little container with an island in the middle and two little palm trees. This was the perfect habitat for our little turtle when she was still the size of a quarter. In recent days, this space has become a bit to small for Shell.When I returned home from vacation that summer I couldn't be more thrilled with my cute little friend. Sheldon was the best gift I had ever received. I let her crawl around my room every day, threw her a birthday party, and even made her her very own Christmas greeting card. Sheldon never seemed to give back the love I gave to her though. And I do feel guilty because turtles can only grow to fit their habitat so with the small circle she lives in, she wont ever reach full size. She doesn't like crawling outside of her tank much anymore and is beginning to show signs of depression.She spends most of her days trying to flip herself on her back( a position in which turtles cant breathe) Although I love Sheldon I fear I will never be able to give her the love she needs to survive. She lives her life in a small circle as a tiny, sad, genderfluid turtle who's organs may implode on her at any time, so I suppose if she were to kill herself I would understand.I would be sad, but I cant blame her.