The Frog

It was a spur of the moment decision. I’m not even sure when it hit me to ask. But, I brought it home. A frog. And cried every time I looked at it for the next three days.

That frog has been a part of my entire life. And I do mean entire. Very likely I first came in contact with it when I was 7 months old and I took my first plane ride to Tennessee. That same trip is the first time I got my picture in the newspaper. After all, the only grandchild of Betty Ann Ogilvie visiting for the first time was big news in Lewisburg. My first picture with the frog, though, was when I was 10 months old and it was my first Christmas. Funny enough, I have several pictures from that Christmas with the frog (and Uncle George – maybe that’s why I’ve always connected Uncle George with the frog). As you can see, the frog is kind of central to my life.

Who knows how long the frog has lived in the coat closet in Grandma’s living room. If you look it up online, “Frisky Frog” has been around since 1971. So, it probably came to live at Grandma’s when she had her Kindergarten there. When that closed in 1977, it somehow made it’s way upstairs to the closet where it has lived for at least the nearly 37 years of my life. I played with it. All my brothers and sisters played with it. All my cousins played with it. And now Emry and her cousins have played with it. Although it now has a new home…Pittsburgh.

As I was leaving last Thursday night, Mom asked me if there was anything I wanted. It just came to me: “The frog?” “Of course!” Mom exclaimed, laughing. And out it came, first the frog and then the cord that goes with it. This past week I’ve fixed it up so it jumps yet again – even if the cord doesn’t stay in, if it ever did. (Apparently, according to the web, it’s also supposed to croak but I don’t ever remember it doing that.) And just as it’s simple air-forced pump that makes it jump once delighted me it now makes Emry laugh and giggle as the frog jumps to get her.

That frog is a piece of me – my childhood, my time at Grandma’s, my home in Lewisburg. There will doubtless be many times tears will come to my eyes when I see it. It holds lots of memories. And now it will be a part of Emry’s life….and the new baby’s life…and probably their cousins when they visit. And who knows? Maybe one day my grandkids will visit, pulling the frog out of Grandma’s closet and making it a part of their lives.

Little Me, Uncle George and the Frog (1980)

Emry and the Frog (2016)