Over the years, the frog has become my guardian spirit, the symbol that appears as warning and confirmation.
In South Florida, Cuban tree frogs are common. In the humid summer months, they leap onto my office windows, pursuing bugs attracted by the lights. I occasionally see them during our winters, too, which aren’t really winter.
One day some years back, we came in from a trip and found a dead frog in our family room, Within a few hours, Rob received a call from his mother, telling him his dad had suffered a stroke while driving and was now in intensive care, not expected to live. Rob left for Minnesota the next day, and his dad passed shortly afterward.
The tree frog knew.
In March 2003, a tree frog appeared in my office and I was able to pick it up and release it outside. I felt it was a good omen, Two months later, I won the Edgar Allan Poe award for best original paperback, Out of Sight.
Two years later, I was cleaning out the room that had been my dad’s when he was living with us. I found the skeletal remains of a frog. I knew what it might mean. He died several days later.
The thing with the frog is that what its appearance appears to be tied with the health of the frog and where I find it. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was sitting outside, tossing balls to our dog, Nigel, in the front yard. A frog landed at my feet. It looked young, energetic, and hopped away as soon as I reached for it. I took this to means that good luck of some kind would be landing on our front porch. And it did, through our podcast and ghostwriting.
During hurricane season, frogs often hold messages. In August 2019, Hurricane Dorian threatened the east coast of Florida. On our daughter’s birthday, August 31, Dorian had stalled. Would it move toward Florida or the Bahamas or elsewhere?
I found a small frog at the entrance to our house and moved him/her into the jasmine bushes out front. I took this to mean that Dorian would pass us by. It did, but with some help from a friend.
.
Now that summer is here again, the frogs are landing at my window!
