Monday, July 14, 2008

Goodnight Froggy

Normally I don't post an entry without a photo, but I never did get a really good one of our Froggy. He lived behind the plastic of his happy 10-gallon bowl and it was challenging to capture his true popsicle green hue. He was so fragile a species, our tree frog, that human touch was to be avoided.
Today he returned to the earth by the cradle of a wooden spoon where the microorganisms will break him down into useful nutrients. Nature wastes nothing. 

My 5-year old son had cascades of tears on-and-off for about an hour. "Mom, can you lay on the bed and hold me?" I love how he was so willing to ask for what he needed. I am curious to see if the feelings of loss will come back. I bet they will ... and I honestly want to observe how he handles the death of his second pet. When we buried froggy in our garden we offered God a prayer of thanks for this little green energy ball of life. 

Later, my son had some thoughts that I left as his. "Froggy was in charge of his own life. Right Mom? .....We were not in charge of Froggy." A few hours passed and then a visit to Grandpa and Grandma's. Grandpa Ed said, "Well, Froggy is in froggy heaven now ..." E said, "Well, he has to return to the earth first." 

On the drive back home, I also posed this question, "What can you put in a box? A happy feeling? Giggles? Hunger? I tried to explain the idea of something you can hold or touch versus the intangible. And these happy feelings and giggles are the things that Froggy showed us, even if we don't have him in his little box tonight. 

Froggy was my nocturnal blogging friend. To have shared my space (home heart child) with him was a very special exchange with life indeed. I didn't have to hold him in my hand to love him either.

1 comment:

@MuseKaren said...

I'm so sorry for your loss. Froggy had a great life and was here to teach many lessons. Goodnight Froggy.

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