This morning I was remembering an incident from several years ago.  It reminded me how perceptions can be so misleading at times.

It was early springtime.  Best Friend and I were eating supper in the sunroom, for a change of pace.  It was azalea season, and we enjoyed looking at the deep-pink azalea shrubs in the early dusk of the evening, as we discussed our week ahead.  It was an eclectic conversation, to say the least.

As we ate, we surveyed the gardens outside.  In the midst of me chewing my meal, Best Friend cried out, “Look!  There’s a frog in the yard.  Look! Look!  Over there!  I just saw it hop around.”

At first, I didn’t see anything. “Is it bigger than the one the dogs found yesterday?”

“Yes, much bigger.  Whoa!  Look!  There it is, sitting there,” he blurted out, pointing a long finger towards a far end of the yard.  “It’s blue!”

I spotted it.  What I saw was a blue-ish, green-ish spot in the grass.  I grabbed my phone, turned on the camera, and took a picture through the storm door glass.

“I’m going out closer. I need a few pictures,” and I gently opened the storm door and crept outside.

I took another picture of the blue-green frog.  It seemed to be frozen with fear as I tip-toed closer.  I snapped another picture.  As I gazed upon its unusual color, I noticed its long leg looked odd, almost broken or twisted.  I went in closer.  

And closer.  

And closer.

Then I started laughing and turned towards Best Friend standing by the windows.  He asked why I was laughing.

“It’s not a frog. It’s some piece of plastic!”

“What? You’re kidding.”

He went outside, picked it up, and brought it in.

It turned out to be a piece of a decomposed shopping bag.

After our laughter died down and we resumed eating, Best Friend looked out the window.  “I can see the sunset from here between the tree branches.  It’s like a small flaming ball.”

I looked up.

“That,” I calmly replied, “That is a streetlight.”

We thought it was time for Best Friend to get new glasses.

But then, maybe we can wait.  I’m starting to enjoy those “misperceptions.”

© 2022 Colcannon Metropolis, “Life is Funny,” “Tales at Sunset,” “Thoughts on the Terrace on a Rainy Day”