“My Little Girl”

“My Little Girl”

She was a beautiful baby Abyssinian (think: bad hair day) guinea pig; her fur contained a curious mix of colors: lilac, brown, white, and tan. She and her relatives shared the same cage space; the various bite marks and scratches she’d received from them told a very traumatic, sad story. My heart went out to her, and so I “rescued” her out of that horrible situation. A trip to the local vet was in order immediately, and so that’s what I did. After that, I brought her home with me, and held her for a long, long time as she lay her head on my chest. I kept saying to her “You’re MY little girl now,” and so that’s how “Little Girl” became her name.

She was special in many ways, but the one thing that made her most special to me was how affectionate she was. I’d had her for a day or so when suddenly one day she started to lick my nose, then my entire face, nonstop. Every time I would pick her up, she’d do that very same thing. It was as if she kept saying to me “thank you thank you thank you”. I joked with other people that she treated my face like an ice cream cone.

Every day is a joy when an animal shows you love like Little Girl did with me. There were times I was down, or crying, and she seemed to sense that and would lick my face even more and “cuddle” my neck. Little Girl liked to be petted and talked to, and boy oh boy did she like to eat! The one thing she really didn’t do was squeak; she was probably one of the most quiet pigs I’ve ever owned.

The saying is true that “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone”.