FROGS, NOT TURTLES!

I don't know why, but I used to get turtles and frogs confused. They're so different, but for some reason, my brain heard the same signals.

One summer, I caught sight of several toads who went leaping to one place, then looked like...football linebackers body-slamming each other, only doing it with their bellies--wham! Wham! Wham! It seemed some kind of dance before going off in pairs. I thought it was something they did all the time, until I never saw it again.

Something more common was the half-tadpole half-toad creature resting on the boulders of Step Creek. Limbs had grown by then to grip the rock, and features began to bulge out of the round head, making the distinctive froglike shape. They moved up the sandy creek bed towards the deeper ponds. Skin-coloring changed from black to speckled brown to green. (Well, there was one fella whose bodily changes seemed to be happening too fast to keep up; his face had turned a lavender-purple!)

I have seen carp leap out of the water, but I noticed the surface of the creek showed dimples and splashes and realized they were not fish, but large tadpoles! They were developing lungs, learning they were becoming animals called frogs and discovering a craving for air!

Hm. Do we exhibit metamorphosis of sorts too, a desire for heavenly air, or are we content to live by gills in murky water forever?