The Tale of the Turtle

Nico & Emily’s birth story is difficult. Within seconds of their arrival, they were both hurried away to the NICU. For the next several months we trekked back and forth to the hospital every day. One fateful morning, we walked into the room to find Nico engaged in his first physical therapy session. The PT, Nicole, was instantly friendly and explained who she was and what she was doing. Up until that point, my only context for physical therapy was orthopedic and post injury/surgery. I had no idea pediatric physical therapy was a thing. As I listened to this lovely woman describe her role, my skepticism got the best of me and before I knew it, the words, “What are you going to do, get him on a bike?” came hurtling out of my big mouth.

Nicole couldn’t have been more gracious toward me. She laughed and moved on as if I hadn’t just insulted her career. Thankfully, she and I share a similar sense of humor, and after I apologized for my incivility, we hit it off quite well.

As she continued to work with Nico, Nicole would often reference his slow, but steady pace. She also noticed he would do the same movements when he would startle. He’d pull his legs and arms toward his tummy and tuck his chin to his chest as if he was trying to retreat into his shell.

The turtle is very clearly his spirit animal, so we thought it only fitting to adopt it as the mascot for The Coco Project.

I have learned that turtles are exceptionally resilient and tenacious. They can adapt to all kinds of environmental changes and they can continue on with their typical life cycles even after sustaining injury or disability. I can’t think of a more appropriate symbol to represent what we stand for as a whole.

Slow and steady is our pace. Turtle on.