The story of Turtle Guy... and lessons learned

A comment left at the previous post inspired this one.

Patricia said "Why did you pick the name turtle boy?
My husband is a marine biologist and he does a lot of work with sea turtles. His friends kid him some times and call him turtle boy."

Well, it's Turtle Guy, but it does have a story. Unfortunately nothing as exciting as marine biology, nor sea turtles.

It stems from... biology in a way, but different...

Dating.

Several years ago I was consistently meeting women in the dating world who – for one reason or another – seemed to have the “mating radar” on high. It seemed to me that very little time would pass and the subject of “settling down” would become the topic of discussion.

Now for all intents and purposes, I think it’s fair to say that more often men – more so than women – are less concerned with partnering up… permanently.

I had had a discussion with my dear mother years ago – long before I ever considered dating – let alone partnership or marriage. It was her belief that more marriages failed because those involved didn’t take the time to discover who it was they were marrying BEFORE committing.

This begs the question “How long do you take to discover this?”

My answer?
It will just be right.
Or it won’t.
You will know.”

So here I was… having been put against the wall for a marriage proposal – virtually ultimatum-style… twice. Once in my 20s and again most recently at 35.

GAWD, THIS SUCKS!

After a hiatus from dating, and a chance to clear my head I thought I'd try again with what seemingly was a keen strategy. I would make no bones about where I stood. SLOW AND STEADY was the theme, and with the theme came the handle.

Now…

The irony.

It’s expected that when you meet someone new, the fireworks go off and it’s all BAM, POW, SCHEZAM, MIND-BLOWING… and all that.

And it was.

In keeping with the theme, I was Turtle Guy… to a point.

Right up until the point where I discovered that yes, this girl IS amazing, and guess what?? All she wants from me is… me! Not to mention, these feelings of BAM, POW, SCHEZAM and MIND-BLOWING didn't go away.

Fabulous!

Now, what was a fellow to DO with all of this? Well, I don't know much about Turtles and their perceived wisdom, but perhaps mine was a little off that day. My judgement call was to tell her EXACTLY how I felt because WOW, isn’t this great!

The Universe had provided. I asked for an independent woman who wasn't in a rush for anything from me.

Of course, the Universe provides in abundance both what you ask for and some of what you don't always expect.

What I DIDN’T expect was this:

I had met – essentially – Turtle Girl.

Turtle Girl extraordinaire.

Turtle Girl who exclaimed, “You think YOU’RE a turtle? I’M a turtle! Turtle out of his shell is a… Jackrabbit!”

Ooops.

I scared Turtle Girl.

So… this handle has inspired MANY learning experiences including:

How to truly impress a girl as well as the age old “Be careful what you ask for – you WILL get it!”