Georgia On Our Minds: Shadow Pig, Our Little Black Bear (1997-2007)

Our Dear Shadow "Huebings Pretzel",
1997-2007

Shadow was born in August 1997 in Ocala, Florida. She
entered our lives in March of 1998, an early Christmas (!) present from my
mother (combined with a slightly late 24th Birthday present). I had owned
pets all my life, but she was my first pet as an adult. We could barely
afford to support ourselves and now we were responsible for this little
creature. We loved her to pieces from the start - an early sign that we
were hopelessly in love was that our lease forbade pets, and so we broke our lease
several months early, losing our security deposit for Shadow. Just before
we made that decision, the landlords came over on short notice and I'll never
forget Angel running out the back door with Shadow tucked into her heavy coat -
I met up with them a half-hour later at Cobbs Hill Park. Speaking of
parks, while Shadow only had two-inch-long legs, she was adept at using them -
she climbed the Cobbs Hill Reservoir through the woods, leading Oscar (and me)
up near-vertical inclines of tangled weeds.

Another early sign of Shadow's special place in my heart - she
tore my baby blanket to shreds within the first several weeks of living with us.
Note that this blanket was over 24 years-old. Shadow helped me pass the tipping point to adulthood as
I threw away the tattered "wankie".

Shadow followed us through five homes and over nine years of
life's ups and downs. During this time, she helped us teach Oscar how to
pee (he still pees like a girl by squatting), gave Hershey a thorough once-over
with her snoot when he was just six weeks old, and spent over 3000 (that's three
THOUSAND) nights sharing our pillow (she underneath it and sometimes IN it, of
course). And Shadow was right there with us when we lost my mother and
then little Lexi, not able to keep any food down for nearly a week either time -
there are no words to describe the loyalty that that kind of empathy engenders
in a guardian/owner.

In short, Shadow pitter-pattered all throughout our early
adults lives, leaving her indelible mark on our hearts. She still has us
puzzling, of course, over how you can pack 100 pounds of personality and
attitude into a 13-pound piece of furry pork!

One of the pieces of wisdom that I've acquired thus far in
life is that the major risk of love is the pain of loss, in all its many
unwelcome forms. But having loved a creature like Shadow is well worth
today's painful tears.