kiss that frog

There’s a fairy tale about a princess and a frog in the pond in the royal garden. The frog rescues the princess’s golden ball and tells her that if she frog will give him one kiss he will turn into a handsome prince. The drama comes from the fact that the princess doesn’t want to kiss a frog–who does– but in the end, she gives in, and he becomes what he said, a handsome prince. I was thinking about this because I had been listening to the Peter Gabriel’s song, Kiss that Frog, and I thought about all the frogs in life, not just people, but events that I haven’t liked, that I said were ugly. And I was thinking about acceptance, about kissing them, and about transformation, when an event or person turned out to have been a blessing in disguise. Do you know what I mean? And I can think of handsome princes I was more than willing to kiss, and they were frogs at heart. And I can think of things I was so reluctant to do, and I was wrong. The reluctance was about fear. Can’t you hear beyond the croaking? Gabriel sings. So what’s a little kiss, one tiny little touch? Jump in the water, come on, baby, kiss that frog.