Frogs

I was blessed to be able to raise my children in the country.  Even to this day, they actually say how much they loved it and wished all their children could have the same fun as they did.

There are many, many stories of interest and hilarity from those days.  We owned a small ranch and had many acres leased.  We raised cattle, had horses, baled our own hay, had multiple 4 wheelers and a little bit of everything else on this little ranch.  Definitely a recipe for adventure, especially for my kiddos.

On this piece of land we called ours was a stock tank, it was an adventure all its own for my children. 

Actually since they have grown up, I have heard stories I wished I hadn't heard about things I did not know went on. :)  Happily I can say that my kids were as adventurous as myself as a child and more.  What a blast and sometimes scary to think about.  They were not afraid.

One day while living there, I opened my refrigerator door and saw something I knew I had not put there.  I was perplexed.  I opened this strange looking tupperware container very cautiously.  And to my great surprise it was stuffed full of frog legs!  Not big restaurant style frog legs, but almost a hundred little country frog's legs all stuffed in this bowl.

I am not sure but I think I shrieked, calling for my children for explanation!  Funny how I knew it was them!  My two youngest were just a year apart, my youngest daughter and my son, so they grew up like twins.  Constantly pushing the limits.  But actually, in this one they were quite sincere.  As I intensely inquired of why there were frog legs in my frig, they were completely excited to tell me.  No guilt this time, just excitement.

They had obviously been enlightened, by TV I am sure, that people actually served and ate frog legs and they were delicious!  So they set out on a mission to gather many frog legs so that I could cook them up for supper!

So all day long they spent by and near the stock tank, catching frogs.  Bless those little frog's hearts, these 2 children, probably about 5 and 6 years old, went to cutting off all their little legs and put 'em in a bowl.  I seriously cannot remember what happened to all the legless bodies after that.   "shiver" 

These 2 little hooligans were so proud of themselves.  And they truly expected that I would be so happy that they had provided supper.  After hearing the excited tale, my intensity turned to compassion and of course a little freaked.  But I understood their mission.  I was no longer angry, but rather proud of their ingeniousness, although much misdirected.

I cannot remember how I bowed out of cooking 100 little tiny frog legs for supper, I may have just exclaimed, I am not cooking little frog legs for supper!  I tried very much to explain how they should not kill the little frogs again for supper, but that it was a great effort to make me proud and that I appreciated it.  BUT, no killing frogs and no putting strange things in my frig without asking me!!!  The sad thing here is that, the frogs all must have bled out, they just cut off their legs and tossed them aside!  Or maybe they grew new legs, that would be nice.  Good grief.

I love my adventurous, intelligent and kind children.  They grew up with good hearts and I think that is wonderful.  I am constantly telling them to remember such and be patient with their own children!

The moral of this story is, hold your anger until you know the whole thing.  Whether it be children or adults, the intent really was the important thing here, not the action!  Good grief, I do not eat frog legs in a restaurant.  The problem:  they all look like frog's legs in a tupperware container to me.