A bedtime story … about a Frog Hat.  It’s a true story and I thought it would be fun to share it ’cause there is so much happening in the world that seems to be robbing people of fun-moments.  So – on to the story.

Every spring, my husband Hans and I would go to an art retreat for a few days.  Everyone brings art supplies/books they no longer use/want and/or artistic creations they’ve made, etc. which are then raffled off and won by successful bidders.  Each year, the Frog Hat is hidden in one of the items and the successful bidder of the object becomes the new owner of the Frog Hat for the coming year – whether they want to or not!  <g>  Then, at the next art retreat, they must hide the hat so that someone else becomes its unsuspecting owner.

One year, my name was drawn for an item I had hoped to get and inside it – was the Frog Hat!   Hans looked sooooo great in it, I encouraged him to share it with me for the year.  And, he did.  He wore it the rest of the art retreat weekend.  It was a fun weekend!  He wore it to our son and daughter in law’s wedding when he gave his speech to the couple (he was the groom’s Best Man <g>).

During his speech about the importance of ‘play’ and laughter in a marriage, Hans told the story of the Frog Hat and at the end, gave the bride and groom a Minnie Mouse bridal veil and Mickey Mouse groom’s hat we couldn’t resist purchasing for them while in Disneyland to remind them of the importance of building in moments of play and laughter into their marriage.  It was such a fun wedding!   Then he wore it at our local Farmer’s Market as part of his ‘sandwich-board’ costume he wore to tell people that his art group was sponsoring an Art Sale just down the street that day.  More fun!

And then – then we had to think of something to hide the Frog Hat next year’s art retreat. And, we did!   Hans built a little bird house and under the fake flooring, he placed the Frog Hat.  Our final bit of fun with the Frog Hat came when no one – not a single person! – figured out which item was concealing the hat that year.  We had fooled everyone. 🙂   Fun – not just one moment but lots of moments of fun … and all because of a Frog Hat.