From our many meetings, the turtle is now part of my healing. Turtles come from out of nowhere in silence and with surprise.

Once in the Galapagos I helped a mother turtle that had just laid her eggs. Too far up the beach and caught in the hot sun, she struggled toward the sea. With friends I helped pull and tug her, and with a final heave she slid back into the ocean. She looked me directly in the eye as she swam by.

Once on the Big Island of Hawaii while collecting sea foam medicine with an elder, I watched a sea turtle swim up, seemingly from out of nowhere. Treading water, she watched me a long time. I painted this turtle to hold that moment.

Once while walking on a beach on an island in the Sea of Cortez, I wished for my sketchbook to record a poem. I then looked down and out of nowhere and lying on the sand was a perfect page‹a panel from the back of a sea turtle. I wrote my poem with plenty of room for a drawing.

Infused with turtle power, out of nowhere (OON) has become part of my vocabulary. OON swims with possibilities and turtles can change you. From knowledge learned from the Tongan turtle, I created the "Tongan Rule Changer," a piece of jewelry that came out of nowhere.