The Frog Hunt

  I grew up in a little town on Lake Superior. We were lucky in our house because we lived right across the street from our grandparents, my Mom’s parents. My Dad’s parents were only a few miles away. We loved our grandparents and even though they were very close at hand, we never took them for granted.

I loved going to Gramma Al’s in Washburn so much, that one day when I was about 10 years old, my friend Angie and I decided to ride our bikes over to visit her.

This was a six mile trip on a two-lane highway. It didn’t occur to us to ask anyone if it was ok, so we went. It sure seemed like a long ride. Usually in the car it went really fast. Actually during part of the trip we did go really fast because we were chased by a dog.

So we ended up surprising Gramma who fed us homemade baked beans and ham and for desert lemon merangue pie. I wish that stuff was just lying around my house in case someone stopped by. Then Gramma called Mom. I could here Mom’s voice even though Gramma was in the dining room when she called. That’s when it sunk in that perhaps we shouldn’t have done that without asking.

Oh well, it was ok. No one was hurt and we loved surprising Gramma.
And as I remember, she was very happy to see us.

Now my other grandparents of course, were right across the street so there was no mystery there. We went over there whenever we wanted.

There were a lot of kids in our neighborhood and they all loved Gramma Berg and Grampa Berg. Grampa Berg would let us wash his milk trucks or do any small jobs in return we got a little carton of milk, sometimes chocolate milk and sometimes orange drink.

During the summer, the whole gang of kids would go over to see Grampa out in the garage. He was often out there talking with a neighbor, listening to the radio, or listening to us. He was always interested in listening to what we had to say. He never made us feel like little kids, he talked to us like we were his friends. That was really special.

And then there were the frog hunts.

Several times each summer, Grampa Berg would load up all the kids in the milk truck and take us out to Prentice Park. It’s a beautiful park about 1 1/2 miles from our house. They have a deer yard, there are some swans that live there. It’s a beautiful park with a really fun playground for kids and lots of creeks and ponds.

When Grampa would take us on a frog hunt we would all get very excited. We would sing really loudly all the way to the park. Mostly Beatles songs or Three Dog Night songs. I remember singing the Three Dog Night song “Joy to the World”. It wasn’t really singing I guess, it was more like shouting. Grampa would grin from ear to ear and tell us to sing louder.

Before I forget, we were in the back of the truck which was empty. The refrigeration was removed. There were just two shelves that we sat on. Normally there were about a dozen kids, so the little kids sat and the bigger ones stood up and braced ourselves on the wall or on the benches. Grampa left the doors open so we could make as much noise as possible, but we had to be careful that we didn’t fall out.

Can you imagine someone doing that today? He would probably get sued or something. Everyone’s parents knew how we were going to the frog hunt and no one was worried. It was just an adventure.

When we got to the park, Grampa would take us way to the back where the swamp is. And at this point we really came alive. We all got into the swamp. Most of us were up to our waists in the murky water. Some of the smaller kids were up to their chins. It was all in the name of frogs.

Grampa didn’t play favorites. He rewarded us for the biggest frog, the smallest frog, the most frogs, the least frogs, the dirtiest kid, etc. I never realized before how great it was that he had so many ways for a kid to get recognized.

One of the neighborhood kids Paul, was very shy and he always came along with us but he never seemed to have any luck. Grampa made sure Paul was rewarded for some reason or other. No one went home empty handed and even though everyone got something, we never thought of it as a give away. We earned it by getting dirty, singing loud, having the most algae in our shoes, somehow we earned it.

As soon as we had become sufficiently dirty and smelly we all piled back into the truck for the ride home and our reward. All the way back we would sing at the top of our lungs. We would ring out our clothes and empty our shoes in Grampa’s driveway and then we would get our prizes. A carton of chocolate milk or orange drink. Something so small yet so wonderful. A bag of money wouldn’t have meant as much to us as those drinks did.

We learned a lot out there in the swamp. We learned patience by helping the little kids catch frogs and the shy kids. We learned that if you were really good at catching frogs, you should help others, not just brag about it. We were learning how to be good neighbors and good people. And we were having fun doing it.

Now I can only imagine what some parents said when their kids came home after a frog hunt. Head to toe full of mud, algae, and smelling really bad. But at least we were happy. There were no hard feelings, no fights, no competition really, we worked together and we cheered each other’s accomplishments. We learned to be good losers and more importantly we learned to be good winners.

We learned how to deal with disappointments and we learned helping others is more important than helping yourself. I know that I can’t physically help anyone anymore. I can’t do the things I did in the past because of AA (adhesive arachnoiditis). I can’t do the laundry, help bring in the groceries, plant the flowers, shovel the sidewalk or wash the car. I can’t even vacuum my own home.

In order to feel useful, I had to find something that I could do and this is it. This is how I’m trying to help pleople. By reminiscing about happier carefree childhood days, I’m hoping to bring some smiles to someone’s face and in turn take their minds off of their problems if only for a minute.

I guess the lessons of childhood really stick with you, just like algae.

Comments

You succeeded in taking me to the past and getting my mind out of the present and off the pain for a few minutes.If the lessons of the past are sticking with you like this don't wash them off They are as useful to this ecosystem as algae is to its. Thanks. K.S.

[Able Mart]

Wonderful distraction :) Definitely brought a smile to my face.

[deborah]

Thank you once again. You have achieved a gaoal. It is amazing how the times have changed, isn't it? How once we were able to be care-free children; and now we must worry, as parents, that we are too either over-bearing, over-stimulating, under-stimulating, or that their poor little minds just arent' getting anything out of a good days honest work - dare I even utter the word, "work" without the fear of child services getting involved!!!! Some of life's best lessons truly were learned the best and hardest ways. Some were learned the way your Grandpa and mine taught them, with grace and love. Thank you for your stories.

[Mary]

Hi Annie!
I didn't know you and Clare did that! Or else I forgot. I'll bet mom's voice got really high when she was talking to Gram Al!

Love,
Sis