A little hop in my day goes a long way

Recently the girls who live next door to me shared with me that they had a frog. They were very excited about it. (As it turns out, they have a ‘frog house’ in their backyard). On several occasions, I’d seen them outside and they would give me an update on ‘Mr. Frog’ (my name for him). After each of our quick chats, I’d tell them I wanted to see him when he was there. They were all pretty excited about him, and I enjoyed and even looked forward to updates on Mr. Frog.

We all know how it is, right? You are home; it’s the middle of the week about mid-afternoon and you’re just settling into start the next thing on your list, and the doorbell rings. You think to yourself, ‘who’s selling what?  Is it some delivery person?’ or who knows what.  Well, I found myself in that exact situation. I slowly walked over to the door, and guess what?  It wasn’t any those – it was one of sweet girls from next door! Now, I couldn’t get to the door fast enough. I opened the door and she said ‘Hi, do you want to come see the frog? It’s been raining so I checked and he’s there.’

Was she kidding? Of course, I wanted to see the frog! I asked her to wait while I put my shoes on. I ran to get them and put them on as fast as I could, then ran back to the door where she was waiting very patiently. I said ‘I’m ready!’ She said, and I quote, ‘You sure are excited!’ Indeed, I was very excited. As we made our way over to the frog’s house, she turned to me and let me know that he’s not a frog – he’s a toad (I had no idea what the difference is, but I do now).

As she took me over to the frog house – make that toad house – voila, there was Mr. Toad. When he saw us coming, he hopped back into his little house. She gently reached in to get him and he took another little hop. In just a couple of minutes, she was able to carefully pick him up and share Mr. Toad with me, up close and personal. She showed me how to hold him, and then she asked if Iwanted to hold him. I was a little unsure about it, and hesitated. But how could I say no? So she carefully handed him over to me for just a bit, and then I gently handed him back to her. She walked over to put him back in his little house. As she sat down to place him back where we’d seen him, he took a little hop, and then another. After a couple of more hops, he made his way toward his house and hopped right in. She kept watch over him as he went.  Once he was in his house, said to me ‘he sure is hoppy today!’ in the most serious tone. It was similar to the tone we might use when saying something like ‘I really have to finish this project today.’  She had no idea how adorable she was in that moment!

So what’s the goodness here that I’m celebrating here? There are a few things that come to my mind:

• It was nice that she thought of me and came over and invited me come see Mr. Toad.
• I’ve never held a toad, and I’m glad I put my hands out to hold the little fella.
• I’ve added a new word to my vocabulary. I can’t wait til I find the right place to use it in a sentence! (outside of here of course.)