Well, it’s about more than the Frog. But you’ll see how it is about the Frog as well as everything else. Last year my dear wife of 20 years lost her life to a terrible and extremely aggressive form of breast cancer called inflammatory breast cancer, IBC for short. She was 53. She was a psychologist, well respected in Atlanta, our home during all of our marriage. We have a son who is now eleven. He and I have done a lot of healing and grieving over the past year. I’m writing a book about the loss.

My wife was an incredible healer. She was also the major breadwinner. My income was supplemental. Even so, my sculptures have enjoyed much success over the years and are collected across the US and abroad and are in many public places. Now it is up to me not only to raise our child but also to make the money. So when a good friend of mine caught up with me and we talked, I told him it’s got to be about the frog. He understood and appreciated mightily, and said that he would use that term whenever referring to the need to step up to the plate and do what needs to be done.

Kissing the frog is a metaphor that has had a lot of meaning for me in ways more literal than most. Not that I actually kiss my frog sculptures. But they are frogs that I metaphorically kiss. Do I eat frogs? Not literally. But I make a lot of frogs, and I guess that means I do eat a lot of frogs because making the frog is not the most fun filled activity I can be involved in to be quite honest. It is my work and I respect it. To a degree work is play, but let’s not kid ourselves: making the frog is hard work. It can also be dangerous work. But I won’t go into that right now. I’ve talked about enough scary things in this entry.

My frog sculptures inspire joy and fun. One would hope that the creation of them would involve a lot of joy and fun. It’s not always that way. But I will tell you this: a lot of mastery goes into this work. I produce art, and the art I produce has within it much of my inner power and strength, and in that power and strength is a lot of joy and fun.

I believe that my sculptures can heal people’s hearts — and minds. My wife and I were complements of each other. Though she was of a healing profession, she was also incredibly creative. She could have been an artist if she had wanted to. She had great musical talent as well as literary ability and the eye of an artist. So it is that I have healing ability even though my wife was the one who exemplified this. Now it is up to me to fulfill both roles. It is up to me to step up to the plate. In other words, it’s all about the frog.

Out of this tragedy has come more frogs, and that’s a good thing for all of us and for the world, I think. Let us not forget, those of us who remember, those of us who still appreciate black-and-white films and the comedians who were the funniest in the world: the Marx Brothers. They were a hit on Broadway before they ever made any films, and they wouldn’t have made a single one, probably not…  According to Groucho, anyway. Had it not been for the Great Depression and the fact that Groucho and his brothers had lost all their money we very well might not have had a single Marx Brothers film and probably not the treasure trove that we do have now. This is not to say that I think that our current economic crisis is a good thing or that the terrible tragedy that befell me and my son was at all a good thing. But good things can come from bad.

So when someone many many years from now enjoys one of my large sculptures, be it a frog or some other creature, they might very well have my wife to thank. And for you who are reading this, whatever difficult times you might have had or are having, consider the good that can come out of it: good that can be not just for you but for others as well at this time or at another. It’s all about the frog. And though our frogs sometimes come out of difficulty, sometimes even pain, they can bring joy to us and to others.  

 My family intorduces a local frog sculpture. My wife, who did not like to talk as much as I do, could be eloquent. Certainly she was charming.