A night to remember

Last night, I was unexpectedly invited to my friend Heather's house for an impromptu game/movie night. Upon arrival at her house (which we've affectionately deemed as located in the Middle of Nowhere), the first thing I noticed was a rare, vintage Kermit the Frog sitting on Heather's family's cabinet (upon further inspection, I found out that the toy actually sang too -- as if simply having Kermit was not enough!).

Before I continue, let me tell you about my affinity for Kermit the Frog. I grew up watching Kermit and his crazy friends' antics in the various Muppet movies, as well as being an avid Muppet Babies viewer. Then when I was in ninth grade, I started taking voice lessons. My teacher told me not to sing a certain way or else I would sound like Kermit the Frog. Did I heed such sage advice? Yeah eventually, but I couldn't wait to practice the Kermit voice. Besides, who wants to hear Pavarotti when they can hear Kermit?! Since then, I've been able to do Kermit's voice, as well as his unlikely admirer, Miss Piggy (a fact of which I'm not sure I should be proud...). Once I got involved with children's ministry, I used my Kermit voice to manipulate the puppets, even if the puppets were not frogs (the kids did not seem to notice since most of them aren't familiar with such high-quality cultural icons as the Muppets -- they're too young).

So that's how I developed my Kermit inclinations. So while we were playing Scrabble, I kept eyeing Heather's cabinet. Would they notice if I just "borrowed" Kermit for an undetermined length of time? Deciding that stealing him would probably not be right or favorable for my image, I tried to put his presence out of my mind. After a while, Heather's mom came home. Chatting with her, I discovered she has been involved with kids' ministry for over twenty years. As a result, she accumulated dozens of puppets. With ears wide open and mouth agape, I listened as this kids' ministry master told of her many creations involving puppets and marionettes. She brought out a few of the collection, including one very big green dragon. Then she said words that I wasn't quite sure I heard correctly: "Yeah, you're welcomed to take it, I need to get some of them off my hands." What?! A free puppet? Good-sized puppets usually run close to $100 and now this master is offering me a life-sized one?! God was surely smiling down on me. After talking with her some more, she again offered to give me more puppets if I wanted. (Was this my birthday?) I knew I had to make my move: "Uh, actually, I've noticed your Kermit over there. Would you be willing to let me have him?"

She hesitated a bit, but soon acquiesced, "Sure, I only got him for one dollar at a garage sale anyway." My jaw must have dropped to the floor. I was very thankful. I made sure she knew that Kermit would be in safe hands. I couldn't believe it though. I have searched eBay and Google and even the official Muppets website and none of them seem to be selling Kermit paraphernalia. Yet here I am, unassumingly at a friend's house to play board games, and lo and behold, there's a Kermit right in front of me! It was a very good.

But wait, there's more! I can't forget to mention that my good friends also got me a Kermit shirt that night, too! The shirt says, "It's easy being green!" with Kermit smiling. Who could believe it -- a Kermit shirt (another item I've searched for) and a Kermit toy and a giant dragon puppet? I still can't believe it, yet as I type this, Kermit is sitting on top of my desk, waiting to go to school with me.