[STORY TIME!!] 161/365: “The power of one is above all things the power to believe in yourself, often well beyond any latent ability you may have previously demonstrated." ~ Bryce Courtenay, The Power of One

Today was a special day...it was the day that our seasonal pond dried up. In years past I would avoid our pond when I knew it was getting close to drying up because I couldn't bear the horrible heartache. I love frogs, and tadpoles are among the most adorable babies in the world to me. Every year the pond dries up long before countless tadpoles are able to transform into frogs...and they die. Not that I have seen it, but I knew that it happened every year. Last year I couldn't stand to let nature take its course, and I went down to the pond with a bucket half full of water and a strainer. Scooping them into the bucket, I rescued the hundreds of remaining tadpoles who were all together in the drying puddle, overheated, gasping for water and on the verge of dying. I marched up to the house where I had a kiddie pool waiting for them and poured them into the water, adding some mud from their pond so there would be food to eat (bacteria, algae, tiny organisms). I went down a little later to get another batch and I was pretty sure I had caught them all. As I watched them swimming around in their new home, I smiled with joy, knowing that they would be ok.

Late that afternoon, I decided to go down for a final check in case I missed a tadpole. When I got to the pond, only mud remained, but I looked over the surface very carefully anyway, and just as I was about to stand up, I saw a tadpole laying on its side, apparently dead. "OH NOOOO!!" I yelled, and carefully picked him up in my hand, cooing in sorrow at my little friend who I thought was dead. Not knowing what else to do, I put him in the cup of water I had with me...and suddenly...with a wiggle of his tail, Lucky swam around in a circle and up to the surface for a bubble of air, and then sank down to the bottom, exhausted but alive and feeling much, much better! I had tears in my eyes for my dear little buddy who waited for me to save him! :)

That was the story of Lucky, the final tadpole from last year's seasonal pond. This year, I began collecting tadpoles earlier--five days ago to be exact, and this morning I was down there to gather the last tadpoles. I was very thorough and continued to sift through the muddy water dozens of times after I'd caught the last baby. This time, when I went down to the pond a couple of hours later when only mud remained, there were no tadpoles! I'd gotten them all! :D

The picture above is one of the last tadpoles I rescued, and I've named him Angel, which makes the second pool, "Angel's Pond". I got the name from a book I just read, "The Power of One," which is a remarkable, awesome story about a boy who overcomes a very rough childhood to become a shining success, and ends up learning that one person can make a profound difference to a entire country and its people. He is nicknamed "The Tadpole Angel," and ever since I read that, I wanted to give that name to the last tadpole that I rescued this year! :) However, when I told Steve, he smiled and told me that I got it wrong...because he said that *I* am the Tadpole Angel. Awwwwwwwww... :D

Bryce Courtenay, (14 August 1933 – 22 November 2012) was a South African novelist who also held Australian citizenship. He is one of Australia's best-selling authors, notable for his book The Power of One. Wikipedia: Bryce Courtenay