Personal Narrative: Why I Love Frogs

I have loved frogs my entire life, almost to the point of obsession. I have three amazing and hilarious fire-bellied toads, a healthy frog pond ecosystem in my backyard, and have labored over hundreds of pieces of artwork featuring frogs in my lifetime. But my unusual passion for frogs raises a simple question: Why? Why have I loved frogs from such a young age? People used to ask me this question all the time, and I would simply reply, “I have just loved frogs my whole life! I don’t really know why.” But in the back of my mind, I wondered, “Is that really true? Is there really no reason?” It was only a few years ago that I asked this question aloud. “You don’t know?” Mommy asked me, somewhat incredulously, “Of course you know!” The answer lied, she explained, in a single gift my grandfather, Poppy, gave me when I was just three days old- a frog stuffed animal I later named Froggy.

It all started in the beginning of April, 2000, in Westchester, Pennsylvania.

It was just days before my mother was scheduled to have a C-section for my birth. My mother’s father, Poppy, was running a sign business at the time, called Goshen Signs. Because he was an entrepreneur, Poppy was part of the Westchester Chamber of Commerce, a kind of support group made up of other business owners. One business owner happened to sell gift baskets for different occasions. As I was going to be born that April 6th, Poppy asked for a basket for a newborn, without specifying my gender. In return, he received a green ribbon adorned, gender neutral basket, which he brought with him when Grammy, my grandmother, and Poppy drove up to Memphis, Tennessee to see me. In it, were green baby clothes, toys, and a pastel green TY baby frog stuffed animal. I later came to call this stuffed frog Froggy.

At first, I did not really care for the stuffed toy, my mother told me. “What do you mean?” I asked, having never remembered a time I did not treasure the stuffed frog. “I’ve always loved Froggy, haven’t

I?”
“No, actually. When you were a baby, Jessie, you didn’t really like him that much. Froggy was that he was bigger than you were! Since he was too big for you to play with, you found him pretty boring,” Mommy would laugh as she explained, while I remained baffled by her comment, trying to imagine ever finding the stuffed toy boring. Perhaps that was true, I conceded to myself, but as I grew larger, I certainly also grew to love him, and by the time I was three years old, I took him with me wherever I went. I would sleep with him, eat with him, and talk with him- he was with me, doing whatever I was doing. And by the time I was four, we were together in much of my artwork and stories as well. Due to my love for the toy, I came to give Froggy an extremely kind, friendly, intelligent, gentle, and helpful personality. As I have always believed Froggy to be beyond perfect, on the inside, I have come to realize that these are the traits I value most. Whenever I looked at him, I could not help feeling a swell of joy and love, and I have come to depend on him throughout my life.
I have always relied on Froggy as my best friend, besides J.C. But perhaps the best thing about Froggy was that he spawned my love of frogs in general. Over the years, I’ve been incorporating frogs in more and more of my artwork, writings, and thoughts in general. And since I’ve researched about frogs, and their devastating declines, I have been a frog activist, and have animated videos in order to encourage people to help protect them from extinction. I sewed stuffed frogs, sculpted frogs, wrote stories about them, painted them, drawn them, donated for them and taught about them. The list goes on, but suffice it to say, I have always loved them! So my love of frogs is the best gift Froggy could have given me.
Most of this story has been written in past tense. However, the interesting thing is- I am hardly different now than I was ten or twelve years ago. I still love Froggy, and bring him with me wherever I go. A large quantity of my artwork still includes Froggy. I still love frogs, and try to learn about them and prevent their extinction. None of that has ever changed, and I doubt it ever will. My whole life has been permanently changed thanks to Poppy, the person who put Froggy in my basket, and Froggy himself. I can’t be more grateful and fortunate that things worked out like they did!