Tadpole Tales: Do You Like Me? (Pick One)

A few weeks ago I picked my little cousin up from school, this simple task always serves as a lesson in patience and successfully navigating the moods swings of an eight year old know-it-all. On this particular day, he excitedly jumped in the truck with a huge smile on his face. Used to being greeted with a scowl and an eye roll, I immediately questioned the obvious deviation from the norm. He responded by promptly pulling a folded piece of paper from his pocket.

Opening up the piece of paper was like a reading a sign welcoming me back to my childhood. The note read, "Do you like me?" with three response options, "yes," "no," and "as a friend". As I read the note (not concerning myself with the response) I flashed back to the days when I kissed cute tadpoles instead of getting headaches from slimey bullfrogs. When I finally emerged from my flash back with the kind of pleased smirk parents have as their kids open presents on Christmas morning, I was bombarded with questions. By the way the object of my little cousin's affection checked the "as a friend" box. Blake wanted to know, "What do girls like?" "How do you make them like you?" and "Can I get Kailey a present?". Not prepared to answer such questions on an eight year old level, I took a second to think. The answers were simple, "Girls like you to be nice to them." "You can make a girl like you by being nice and giving them compliments" and "No you can't get her a present, you're too young for all that".

After getting Blake to his house, I spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about all the tadpoles that made my elementary and middle school years memorable (and at times slightly miserable ). I had some pretty stellar tadpoles back in the day, definitely worth their weight in Jolly Ranchers and Now & Laters. Being an adult, in a much bigger pond with frogs more complicated than all my tadpoles combined makes me miss the days when I kissed tadpoles out of curiosity and the most difficult decision on any given Monday morning was choosing the perfect ensemble.

Who was the star tadpole or little "princess" of your youth?