Why The Muses dropped this one into the penetralia of my pumpkin is anyone’s guess. I suppose it is a follow-up to my recent blog entry about trying again to nurture a garden and keep it alive.  Spo

I have more books than bookshelves, so I keep my most-cherished tomes in the in the home office where they are on display;  everytime I am enter the room I see them standing proud on the shelves like winners at the Olympics.  Among the “A-list” books are a four thin paperbacks in “The Frog and Toad” series.  They are a set of childrens’ books about a friendship shared by a frog and a toad. There is nothing particularly awesome about these stories; every chapter is essentially the same story: Frog is anxious/neurotic about something and his bestie, Toad, arrives on the scene to assure Frog things are OK. All the stories end with the two of them doing something together, happy in each other’s company.  

Spo-fans may be wondering  if Urs Truly sees them as a gay couple. I don’t. There is nothing in the tales to suggest their relationship is a romantic one. Frog and Toad are friends – male friends – which is an important point. Men these days have a hard time being friends with each other. Straight men fear their same-sex friendships will be seen as ‘something gay’ while gay friendships often have unclear boundaries to what the relationships are and allow. Women on the other hand often have lots of friends and make friends easily. But I digress. The “Frog and Toad” books are up on the bookshelf among the cherished for two reasons:

They make me feel good to reflect upon the lovely intimacy of a friendship.

They remind me to nurture my friendships.

This last point is something needing emphasis.  Friends are vital to body and soul and I fear I do not do a good enough job at keeping mine going. I should be minding my chums as zealously as the newly planted plants mentioned in my blog entry earlier this week. This point is illustrated by the sad and shameful admission after 15 years of living in Arizona I have failed to make any real close friends. Mind! I am so grateful for my faraway friends and blogger buddies (hey! That’s you!). Nevertheless I I would like some local chums as well. It is my great desire and great challenge to do this and keep the faraway friends from wandering off, losing orbit into deep and irretrievable space.

My inner Frog wants a nearby Toad whom I can call to say I’m feeling low today; why don’t you come over and let’s have a chinwag over tea.  Yes, I would give a lot for that.