Have You Ever Kissed a Frog

I'm sure you've all heard the saying, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince. Well, I've kissed a lot of . . . let's say, what I thought were frogs that devolved into toads after time. And I still haven't found my prince. Although at my age, I've kind of stopped looking. You're probably wondering what the moral of this story is. I don't actually have one. But in a matter totally unrelated, my birthday is the 20th of December.

My sister called and asked if I wanted to out to dinner for my birthday. Of course, I did! I love to eat out. I know it's too early, but I'm planning to be out of town for the holidays, so she thought we should celebrate early. She and her husband and I went to Sweetwater Tavern here in Ashburn. It's one of my favorite places, and I have a lot of favorite places. We settled in, and I got a little giddy on a cosmopolitan (cheap drunk). Then I had a glass of their Christmas ale, which was also very good. Between drinks and dinner, we were laughing and talking, and she handed me a box. I kind of had a hard time opening it because when my sister wraps a gift, she really wraps it (uses a LOT of tape).

I finally opened the box and out popped this adorable frog prince.


Of course, like Rapunzel, I let down my hair and
. . . wait, that's another fairly tale. Anyway, I pulled the little frog prince over to my lips and made a wish and gave him a sweet little kiss. Suddenly, he popped open! And what do you think was inside?

Nope, not a handsome prince waiting to sweep me off my feet, who would take me away to cook and clean for him and do laundry at least three times a week. This is what I got instead.




A beautiful sapphire and diamond ring to wear happily ever after. My sister and I had gone to a jewelry store to have her rings (her huge diamond ring) cleaned a couple weeks before. And because I was a bird in a previous life, all things shiny appeal to me, sequins, beads, and especially sparkly jewelry. I had seen the ring and fell in love with it and tried it on. I had the sales person hold it overnight and I went back and looked at it the next day. But I decided I had better pay my taxes first. There would be other rings. Without my knowing, my sister went back to get the ring and she had her wonderful husband gave it to me for my birthday. I was stunned. After I stopped crying and blubbering, I thanked them and told them that now we were all engaged. I absolutely love it. I will wear it every day unless, and until, my finger falls off.