A few years back…

…  my wife and I were working together in what was our new home at the time, readying it for the day when we would be moving in, when Vicki called for me to “come get this frog out of here!” I recall coming as quickly has I could, and sure enough there was a frog-well actually, I’m pretty sure it was a toad-hopping around on our basement floor. I momentarily mused over what to do with our new house guest, and quickly attempted to corner him. It was quite a process since this little guy obviously wanted nothing to do with being captured. Ultimately, though, I did snare him and rather than take him outside as my wife suggested, I determined I’d save myself a trip up the steps (I’d already been up and down them a dozen times that day!) and would dispose of him in the nearby bathroom.
After having a brief moment together, I gently flushed the toad down the commode. I watched as he fought against being flushed, even to the point of straddling the opening at the base of the toilet, until he disappeared. Thinking all was taken care of I started to walk away, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed that the toad was still there. Oh, I really just wanted to be done with the whole thing; I didn’t have time for this. So after a few more parting words, I once again flushed the toad down the commode, and then flushed again just to be sure he went all the way down. Surely this time the little toad was on his way to never-never land.
I went back to my work and didn’t give the toad another thought, until Vicki joked that we now had to live in fear that the toad would grow and grow and one day rise up and attack us when we least expected it (if you know what I mean). That got me to thinking that I should go check just to be sure he really was gone.
What do you think I saw as I approached the commode? You got it-one beady-eyed little toad staring up at me! This was now turning into a battle of the wills. “That toad has to go!” I thought. So I flushed again and again-in all, six times I flushed, figuring he’d finally be gone for good.
A while later, my curiosity got the better of me, and I just had to go check to see if our little friend had climbed his way back up the drain, and sure enough, there he was again! Wow! I was totally flabbergasted at this little guy’s determination. So I finally did what I should have done in the first place-I listened to my wife-and I gathered the toad up from his wet and slippery domain and took him outside to release him. As we watched him happily hop away, both Vicki and I agreed that the little amphibian, in his struggle for freedom, had definitely earned the title of Toad Tenacity.
Now Toad Tenacity is free to roam wherever he will, never having to worry about being flushed again. (I should think that from now on he’d be smart enough to stay outdoors and away from bathrooms!) It was a funny little incident-one that gave us a good laugh or two-but there was also a couple of lessons we might learn from the toad, which I could not resist sharing with you:

• Press on when the world seems to be flushing all your good ideas down the drain.
• Keep looking for the light when someone is yanking your chain.
• Swim as hard as you can when the current is the swiftest.
• Don’t just ride with tide and go with the flow-do something!

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