What kind of frog person are you?

Remember when you were a child and you found a tiny frog hopping through the grass? You likely had one of two reactions.

Blood curdling scream followed by a blind run in the opposite direction.
Elation ran through your body and you couldn’t help but pick up, pet, squeeze, run after it when it inevitably hopped out of your hand and basically smother the poor thing.

I fell into the latter category. When I was 10, we were fortunate enough to have a trailer in a lake resort called Cedarcrest on White Earth Lake. Each spring, hundreds (I’m not exaggerating, 100s!) of tiny frogs would make the trek from the big lake, through the residential area onward to the woods behind. My bothers, friends and myself would grab minnow buckets and fill them with as many as we could catch. From there, cue the above mentioned items.

It Comes Full Circle

Fast forward to last fall, at the MN Landscape Arboretum, with my brother, sister-in-law, two nieces and nephew, updating family photos when low and behold, a tiny frog crossed our path. My oldest niece, Taylor, five at the time, the fearless adventurer, picked it up immediately. Ashlyn, my cautious curios niece warmed up to it eventually but observed first.

Memories of Cedarcrest flooded back and a reflection of my childhood was right there in front of me. You can see both of their reactions below as they held the amphibian.

I love having these memories as images. I would’ve forgotten this happened, had we not taken photos. Lifestyle photography and films are so sneaky good at that – keeping the memories of the small things alive so we don’t forget.