Frog in the Car

 

Yesterday morning, there was a frog in the car.

We noticed it after my son’s 8 AM piano lesson, when we were in the drop off line at his school, pulling up to let him out.

“Mom!” he said. “A frog!”

This was not something I ever expected to hear on a Tuesday morning.

I think I looked confused. He said my mouth dropped open.

“What?” I asked.

And then I saw it: a tiny frog, maybe two inches wide, traversing the window on my son’s side of the car, apparently searching for a way out.

“Careful!” I said, as my son tried to figure out how to open the door without endangering the frog, who was still on the window.  I hadn’t even known this frog existed until moments before, but now felt deeply attached to him and concerned for his welfare.  There was a good line of cars behind us now, but we ignored them as he gently nudged the frog down onto the floor, a safe distance from the door.

The frog must have come into the car in the bags of recycling that I’d loaded the night before. There were cans and bottles, some which had been by the back door for months.  A few of the plastic bags were breaking down and were full of rain water.  I thought I’d dumped the water out. The frog must have been caught inside.

I was heading to a massage appointment at my friend’s house. She lives in a nearby neighborhood with a pond and  small creek. I kept one eye on the frog and the other on the road and prayed that he wouldn’t make a sudden hop onto my lap.  We made it safely to the pond, and I helped him out of the car into a grassy area.

I hope that he will be happy in his new home.

This frog made my day. I love that we live in a world where a frog can hop into the car and change the way everything feels.  I love how it woke me up. I love how it turned my morning from one where everything was going along as planned to one where anything could happen. It makes me hopeful for what will happen next.