"Life is just what happens to you while your busy making other plans," ~ John Lennon from "Beautiful Boy"
March 31st marks my anniversary of another year spent on this crazy planet. Consequently, I have been excessively reflective about my own existence and the purpose I serve to the universe more than I usually do. It made me think of frogs. Let me explain.
Art by Jackie Ocean
My childhood was spent in a rural area. I wandered through fruit orchards, pretended to chase faeries through the woods and captured fireflies in a mayonnaise jar for a night light many times. There was a small creek that ran through the homestead property. It was a source of endless fascination for me, with crayfish, minnows, big warty toads and countless little frogs. Like most children, I had been taught the tale of the little princess who's kiss transformed a frog into a prince and lived happily ever after. Unlike many children though, I believed that story to be absolute truth and noteworthy wisdom.
Art by Melonie Steffes
On sunny afternoons, I could usually be found having tea parties with my teddy bears and rag dolls under the shade of a big old walnut tree, near the creek. After a cup of pink lemonade and a strawberry jam sandwich, the loneliness of being an only child, at that time, would get the best of me. With a heavy sigh and a bit of desperation, I would cautiously make my way to the creek bank and look for a frog. "Surely there is magic!" I would think as I held a squirming amphibian tightly in my hands. I would close my eyes, pucker and kiss that frog with all the love I could summon in my heart. The results I wished for evaded me. Day after day, frog after frog, kiss after kiss and never a princely appearance graced me.
Art by Toni Dogma
Time marches on and we grow out of silly notions like fairy tales, teddy bear tea parties and kissing frogs. We accumulate wisdom from our experiences and become so much better for it ... or do we? I feel fortunate to have managed holding on to a large portion of my child's heart. Ever hopeful, always believing in magic and never giving up entirely on my dreams, I have accrued my wisdom selectively and colored it rosy. I apply the Frog Prince theory to everything I do. Taking frog leaps of faith into the unknown, seeing the beauty hidden inside everyone and offering tender kisses unexpectedly to magically transform darkness into wonder. One can never plan to become this way, it just happens. It may make others shake their heads, but I think I was born to be just a little crazy, be the frog kisser and truly believe that anything is possible.
Being a destined frog kisser has its benefits. I find the most amazing and beautiful things hiding out of sight, under mushrooms, in the mud, where no one else treads and in the shadows. I can see the way out of misfortune, unpuzzle impossibilities and side step improbabilities with grace and aplomb. I cultivate the most enriching and unexpected friendships and alliances. I embrace magic and all the amazement it has to offer bringing so much good into my life.
So, on my birthday, you need not wonder what I'm doing or where I will be. Look for me kissing frogs and working hard to make my dreams come true. This is my purpose, my place in the cosmos. As for birthday gifts and tokens, I can always use another lip gloss!
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