Once upon a time, in a big warm ocean, there lived a little turtle named Tilly.
Tilly loved swimming.
She swam every single day.
Swooping and gliding and spinning in slow, happy circles. 🐢
But one morning, Tilly woke up and jumped in the water and —
Nothing.
Her flippers forgot what to do.
She sank a little.
She panicked a lot.
“I forgot!” Tilly cried. “I forgot how to swim! I FORGOT!”
😰 The More She Panicked, the Worse It Got
Tilly flapped her flippers the wrong way.
She went down.
She flapped harder.
She went sideways.
She flapped as hard as she possibly could and spun in a wobbly circle and bumped her shell on a rock.
Bonk.
“I’ll never swim again,” Tilly sobbed, clinging to the rock. “Never ever ever.”
She closed her eyes.
The water wobbled around her.
🌊 Friends Come Swimming
Tilly’s friends had been watching.
There was Finn the fish. There was Coral the crab. And swimming alongside the boat nearby was Mila, in floaties and goggles.
Mila paddled over very gently.
“Tilly,” said Mila softly. “It’s okay.”
“It is NOT okay,” said Tilly. “I forgot. My flippers forgot.”
“I forget things too,” said Mila. “I forgot how to do buttons once. And how to skip. And once I forgot my own middle name for a whole day.”
Tilly blinked.
“What happened?”
“I just slowed down,” said Mila. “And tried one small bit at a time. And it came back.”
🐢 One Flipper at a Time
“Try just one flipper,” said Mila. “Just the left one. Nice and slow.”
Tilly tried the left flipper.
Swoosh.
It worked.
“Now the right one.”
Swoosh.
That worked too.
“Now both together. Slowly.”
Tilly took a breath.
Both flippers.
Slow.
And she moved.
Forward.
Just a little bit.
But forward. 🌊
“I’m doing it!” Tilly whispered.
“You’re doing it!” Finn cheered.
“SHE’S DOING IT!” yelled Coral, waving all his legs.
Tilly swam one small circle.
Then a bigger one.
Then she swooped all the way down and all the way up and spun three times and laughed so hard bubbles came out her nose.