The Neighborhood Pig

As I've mentioned before, living in the country is a bit of a new experience for me, and one I am entirely enjoying! One of my favorite things is our neighborhood pig...I first caught a glimpse of him early in October at a neighbor's house about a quarter mile away. This neighbor has about 7 black and white border collie type dogs, and they often are playing in the yard or lazing in the sun, but one day as I was driving by, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that one of the dogs was pink! I slammed on my breaks, threw the car in reverse, and backed up for a closer look. And what to my wondering eyes would appear? A small pink piglet, PLAYING with the dogs...just like a puppy! They were jumping and chasing each other in the yard...so very cute, it just made me laugh out loud! I love it when people say, "That makes me smile." I love that very centered awareness of what brings joy to someone, and I truly have a new appreciation for this, because seeing this pig truly makes me smile...in fact, whenever see him, it even makes me laugh out loud!

From my first glimpse of him, I kept an eye out for the neighborhood pig. I often saw the dogs, and occasionally the chickens and geese that roam their place, but the pig is more elusive and less visible, so each time I saw him, it was truly a treat! Coming home in the late afternoon, I would occasionally see him asleep along the fence line...a row of dogs with a pig tucked in the middle. But the most crazy thing of all was that NO ONE had seen this pig but me! My family would come and go and nobody every spied a pink pig amongst the dogs. They began to suspect that I was just confused. As Thanksgiving drew near, I began to worry that pig was on the menu, so I was most relieved to see my friend a week after the holiday, growing bigger each day. When I saw, I would always stop and talk, and he and the dogs would sometimes come up to the car, though the pig would soon get distracted by something in the grass and lose interest in me...perhaps he has ADD?

He was getting pretty rotund by Christmas, and I was afraid that, like my brother-in-law's family, this family celebrated the holiday with a whole roast pig. Imagine my excitement, when the Sunday after Christmas, as we were driving to church, I spied the little guy as we drove by. My kids and husband had still NOT seen this pig, and there he was standing at the edge of his yard. "STOP," I squealed. Hubby stopped, then obligingly backed up the truck...and was shocked that there really WAS a pig! This is the picture he took that day! He couldn't believe it...there is no fence, but the dogs and the pig and the chickens and the geese all stay in the yard...and yes, there really was a pig! We chatted him up for a moment, then slowly drove away, and hubby kept staring into the side-view mirror. "He's chasing the truck and oinking...just like the dogs who are chasing are barking!"

You can see why my little friend makes me smile...and laugh out loud! Thank you, precious Father, for little things that make each day special.