Dashboard Confessional

Unknown brand, vibrant green-blue, circa 1990s

At first glance, he’s just a small, slightly silly stuffed frog. But for over thirty years, he’s been quietly along for the ride—literally.

He first appeared on the dashboard of a little black pickup truck, where I was learning to drive stick. My high school girlfriend—braver than most—was the one teaching me. The frog sat perched in front of us, unblinking, as I lurched and stalled my way through parking lots and backroads, grinding gears and growing up.

We eventually broke up, as high school relationships often do. But I kept the frog. Somehow, he kept hitching a ride—from apartment to apartment, city to city, decade to decade. I’ve carried him through jobs, friendships, endings, and beginnings.

I will always remember her—Sherrie Larsen. But he’s always been there too—surprisingly unnamed all these years. A quiet talisman of movement, growth, memory, and things that stick (pun intended).