As a boy, a man receives a priceless legacy from his wise grandmother but only realizes its worth when his life falls apart and he loses everything he’s ever worked for.

Sam Delves loved his grandmother Edith. She was a wonderful, vibrant woman who’d brightened up his childhood with her fun-loving attitude. When Sam was 15, Gran Edith became very ill and passed away.

Sam was devastated by her death. Even though he loved his parents, it had been Edith who’d best understood him and had listened to his troubles. He’d miss her wisdom and her kindness.

Then his mother gave him an envelope. It was Edith’s final gift to him, her legacy. He opened the envelope and found inside an old key.

“Gran Edith asked me to give this to you,” his mother said. “She asks you to carry on her work. You’ll find instructions in the attic, she said.”

Sam ran up the stairs. He walked into the attic and looked around. He was sure the key opened some treasure box or a mysterious trunk, but all he found in the empty dusty attic was an old rusty cage.

Our greatest legacy is the wisdom we pass on to the young.
Then Sam saw that there was an envelope taped to the cage door. He opened the envelope and took out a series of photos and a letter written in his grandmother’s looping hand. The photos showed turtles sitting in this same cage and basking in the sun by a lake!

Sam unfolded the letter and started reading it. “Dear Sam! I won’t be with you much longer, and I wanted to pass on all that I’ve learned in my life. I won’t be able to do that but I hope you will agree to carry on with my mission.

“You see, a few years ago, I noticed that the turtles at the lake were covered with algae and I started catching them a few at a time and bringing them home so I could scrub their shells clean.

“You see, anything on a turtle’s shell, like algae or scum, reduces the turtle’s ability to absorb heat and impedes its ability to swim. Over time, it can also corrode and weaken the shell. It’s my way of making a difference.”

“But don’t most freshwater turtles live their whole lives with algae and scum hanging from their shells?” Sam said to himself, then continued reading.

“Sure, 99% of turtles don’t have kind people like you to help them clean off their shells, but for the ones who do, it made all the difference in the world. Please, Sam, keep on making a difference.”

“You scrub turtles too!” he gasped.

“Turtles?” asked the woman, smiling. “What do you mean?”

“My grandmother…” he explained. “She tried to teach me…You see, she would pick up turtles at the lake and scrub the scum off their shells to give them a better chance at survival. I always thought it was a silly thing to do. What difference can it make to the turtle, right?

“But today…I’m the turtle. You scrubbed the scum of my shell so I can swim again and feel the sunlight. You’ve given me hope of a new life!”

When the rubble of his house was cleared away, Sam dug up that old cage and he started going down to the lake again and took up his grandmother’s mission. He always imagined that when he released the turtles back into the wild, they left him with a grateful smile.