Persistent Love & a Pig

The experts say to write a little every day. They say it doesn’t need to be polished or perfect – just honest and authentic.

So, here we are today trying to recover a broken habit. Not polished. Not perfect. Just writing what flows through the fingers and across the keyboard.

My home is quiet. No pig oinks. No voices. Just the sound of my fingertips tapping at the keys on the keyboard and the air conditioning because we gotta hear that in wet Southern heat or else there’s an emergency on our hands.

No pig oinks – seems like a bit of a random line to type, but it’s not. Last March, my husband, Matt, and I brought home a tiny ten-pound piglet. We named him Tony, actually Anthony BOARdain, but Tony for short.

Yes, he’s a unique pet.

Yes, we get asked all the same questions…all the damn time.

Here’s the first one: What made you get a pig?

Here’s the short answer. Matt always wanted a pig.

Here’s the long answer. Matt mentioned wanting a pig around the time we got Grits, our Great Dane, but I was not about to have three dogs and a pig. So, we waited. And honestly, Tony picked us. About six months after Grits passed, a co-worker shared her daughter had bought a “mini pig” as a Christmas present for her kids. I started asking questions, as I knew there was NO such thing as a mini pig, and needed to know the breed of the pig and if it was truly what the farm said it was. Turns out, the farmers were Juliana pig breeders and approved by the Juliana Pig Association and Registry. Matt messaged them on Facebook and scheduled a visit to the farm. We drove over two hours one way to get to this farm prepared to bring home a piglet but also prepared to come home empty handed if we got there and learned these people were full of shit. Turns out they weren’t full of shit and one of the nicest families we’ve ever met. They introduced us to the weeks old piglets, the months old piglets, and the parents (Reba and Johnny Cash…I mean legendary pigs here). We learned, unlike puppies, piglets don’t come running to cuddle. They actually run away basically out of fear due to being prey animals. You’d think we would’ve learned this in the months of research we did prior to this visit, but we didn’t. However, Johnny Cash was a sweetheart. He let us rub him and put on a show flopping right on over for more lovin’. So mild tempered and down-to-earth. Reba, on the other hand, was a little untrustworthy and kept her distance. And, the six-months old piglets in the barn with Reba, now, they were the cutest sight to behold. Running around oinking. Then, we spotted Tony. The runt of the bunch. Just hanging back checking everything out. Calmer than the others until it was time to steal him away. When the farmer went in to grab him for us, the squealing was nearly deafening. He was scared, and understandably so. We were tearing him away from his family, from the farm, from life as he knew it. Little did he know, he’d become one spoiled pig. He squealed, oinked, and pooped all the way home – yep, over two hours. We felt awful. No matter what we did he wasn’t having it. Not much changed once we got home. It was constant oinking for days and weeks. No sleep. No peace and quiet. About drove Matt insane. There was a short time frame I thought Tony would be going back to the farm. Luckily, after a lot of persistent love, Tony started to trust us. He started to learn we loved him and were going to take care of him. And so, he started to crawl onto our laps and lay. Then, he started learning little tricks like sit, wait, stand, spin. And, today, over a year later, he snuggles on the sofa every night after dinner, goes on hikes, eats the best vegetarian diet, and burrows under the coziest blankets for a little nap or nighttime snooze. He has become our friend, and we love him so much even when he oinks back at us when he doesn’t like something or when he’s pig-headed and does life on his own timetable. It is an adventure loving him and raising him. I’m also fairly confident he’d never want to be a farm pig again; he lives quite a luxurious piggy life.

The next popular question is: Do you still eat pork?

Short answer: Matt does. I’m still a vegetarian. Tony does not and never will.

And our least favorite of all is some rendition of: What’s his name? Bacon? OR You’ll never go hungry, you’ll always have some bacon.

Our response: Just stop with the bacon comments and jokes, people. They aren’t original or funny.

Persistent love is a powerful thing, friends. Thanks for teaching me, Tony.

Meet Tony and feel free to follow him on Instagram: @tony_boardain