Motherhood

Last night I went to see leatherback turtles nest in Matura, Trinidad. That was about the 4th-5th time I ever went. Its one of my favourite 'touristy' / nature related things to do in Trinidad. Every time I am filled with wonder and awe at the amazingness of life. This time was no different. Watching the mother leatherback turtle go through all that effort to lay her eggs caused me to reflect on this blog. Or rather this blog caused me to reflect deeper on this MOTHER, this woman.


Devotedly the female leatherback turtle drags her heavy body up the shore of the beach, finds a place she wants to lay her eggs and then with her back flippers alone creates a hole large enough and deep enough to deposit her eggs which come about 80-100 or so at a time. During the process of laying her eggs she falls into a trance like state that is so intense that human beings can touch her at this time and she will not move, she will continue to deposit her eggs unflinchingly. After this arduous task she covers up her eggs, again just by using her back legs to cover back the hole she inititally made. After all this is completed she does what is known as "camouflaging". In essence she trys to camouflage the hole so that predators cant find it. All this is instinctual to her. If for any reason upon returning to the water she has reason to fear her babies aren't completely safe...back up the shore she goes to camouflage again ..even if it isnt in the right spot. Her determination to protect her babies is essential. This whole process takes 2-3 hours. She will repeat this again in the next 9-10 days and this will repeat itself a total of 5-7 times in a nesting season.


In about 2 months her eggs would have incubated and they will hatch. Out of each clutch (batch of eggs) about one will survive to adulthood. She will never see these children she spent so long and so much effort to give birth to. She will never reep the rewards of motherhood. For her motherhood is not a choice, it is a necessity. It is a duty to her species. It is her efforts alone that ensure the survival of her species.


This whole experience has made me relfect upon motherhood. What is motherhood really? Is it purely the physcial creation of another creature/being as with these beautiful creatures? Or is it something more? Is motherhood a duty or a choice.. should it be considered a duty? Well certainly our species is under no direct threat of extinction. How do you view motherhood, what does it mean to you? What does it mean to be a mother?