Actually, I was talking about "Frog" with Chitunga and Alexis the other night when the conversation came up as to why I had so many frogs in my house. They didn't know my Brown School world, or the pond, or the decade of frog-daemons that became my everyday. In other words, my life here is totally devoid of the decades I spent in Kentucky --- that world was so huge for me, but now is somewhat distant.
"Frog," I said, "was an alter ego resulting from my first year of teaching. I had a frog backpack, and I began to get letters to Frog. Slowly, but surely, the letters kept coming and the creatures continued to name themselves. I continued to write them back: Dragonfly, Bambi, Turtle, AC Sprite, Chipmunk, Rainbow Fish, Worm, Tree, Swan, Cattail, Bunny Bufu, Duck, Swallowtail, Monarch, etc."
Several years later, the Frog still exists, but he's not as wrapped in the pond sludge of yesteryear as he once was. The creatures have grown up...they still come, but not as often as they used to. I still channel my amphibian thoughts, but they aren't as necessary as once upon a time...
But, in hectic times like these - this week over the top - I am channeling the Frog and wishing the serenity back to my world, when I sometimes had answers. The Frog always had solutions, whereas Crandall is just pushing the boulder up the hill in this guessing game called life. Frog was a superhero. Bryan is a manic fool.
So, I am channeling Frog this week. May he bring all the magic of the pond back my way. I've missed him a lot.
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