Early in our marriage, my parents gave me a small ceramic lily pad and three goofy looking frogs who were sitting around the lily pad — playing cards. It was cute and so I put it on my desk. Shortly thereafter, I began receiving more frogs – wooden, ceramic, metal, glass. Most were small though I have a large concrete frog in the back yard. After marriage – and especially after having Lauren – frogs began arriving on a regular basis.

At my old law firm, I had a nice office in the Sears Tower. With the added space, I brought a box of frogs to adorn my digs. Shortly thereafter, one of the staff members brought her little boy to work. And they stopped by my office. The little boy was mesmerized by the frog collection. To make it interesting, I offered him a dollar if he could count them. He immediately took up the offer. His mom gave me a thumbs up and walked out. And I got back to work with the little boy wandering around – looking out the window and counting frogs. After maybe 20 minutes, he finished and I thought “plus or minus 20 is close enough” so I gave him a dollar. And so it began.

Every time a little one would accompany mom or dad to our office, Petersen’s office – and the “frog count” – was one of the main stops. No one ever was “wrong” on the count (I believe the correct number was 63) so everyone walked away richer. And I ended those “count” days poorer. Slightly. . . . .