[Gpdd] RAINBOW BRIDGE: A eulogy letter to Hershey

GARY HESS joanhess4 at sbcglobal.net
Thu Oct 1 22:41:50 EDT 2009


I hope this doesn't run too long...
 
Hershey, you were so tiny when I first met you--barely a month old, covered with silky hair, marked like the sheltie dog for which I assume your kind is named, in two shades of brown over white.
 
You were shy, so different from my self-assured pigger that had left us only days before you arrived (within days of Mothers' Day, 2008). Sensing my loss, my husband, Gary, surprised me with you and he was overjoyed at my delight. He had searched the pet stores for a worthy piggie, and knew at first sight that you--the little one hiding in her cardboard tube--were the one.
 
You must've been handled roughly as a piglet because it took a long time for you to trust us. I never was able to catch you, and feared carrying you anyway, as you were such a wiggler, so I'd lure you into your CosySack with your favorite dry food (another brand of pellet in tantalizing shapes and flavors), pinch the opening shut, and it would become your magic carpet to the land of snuggles and treats. You never complained about your need for frequent brushing as long as you were bribed with enough goodies to occupy you. You were even good when I had to trim your bottom, which was the only place your hair ever matted. Surprisingly, I never saw you impeded by your glorious, floor-length mantle.
 
Though you were not a terribly vocal guinea pig, you still expressed yourself. You were quite musical, in fact. You had three bells hanging over your feeder. You'd grasp one by the rim, pull back, and watch and listen with glee as it rang, crashing into the other two in a miniature symphony. I'll miss that.
 
I can still see your pink paws as you stood on your hind legs against the cage, your chubby lower lip drooping to reveal your cute incisors, the lower jaw grinding sporadically in anticipation as you begged for munchies. I'll miss that daily performance along with the Hershey kisses you'd bestow and the soft warbling serenades when snack time was over.
 
You had a certain dignity and reserve that was cast aside when you became ill. You became bold and trusting and vocal, responding loudly to the mention of your name. Perhaps you knew that time was short, for you were so appreciative in spite of all the indignities and pains of treatment your endured. You'd always been particularly afraid of men, but in those last, difficult weeks (the best and worst of times) you sought out Gary. I'll never forget watching you waddle across the couch, stand on your hind legs with your little paws resting on his arm, and look up into his eyes as if to say, "Thank you." I remember Gary praying that we could be as great a blessing to you as you'd been to us. I hope we were.
 
He still cherishes the tug-o-wars the two of you had over empty syringes after medication time, how you'd brace your legs and tug with all your might, demonstrating a tenacity we had only recently discovered.  A couple days ago he found your favorite syringe, saw the tooth marks on it, and his eyes filled with tears as he asked me to put it somewhere safe.
 
How do I pay tribute to a lovely lady pig such as you? With gratitude and humility at having shared our lives with you for that brief year and a half, to be sure, and with the certain knowledge that we we will continue to miss you until we meet you in a Better Land. Until then let it suffice to say that you were and forever will be loved.
 
Your bereaved Mama and devoted slave,
Joanie


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