i don't want you to grow up

advanced apologies for the pg-13 nature of this photo, but yes, that is me in the shower with rose.

darling rose,

i don't want you to become a pig.
i want you to stay piglet sized forever.
i want to still take you into the shower and suds you up with dr. bronners and make you smell like eucalyptus.

i want to take you on trips to the mountains or to the seashore.
i want you to always like blueberry yogurt and orange slices and pita bread.
i want you to forever sleep in your little doghouse right off the front porch.
i want you to follow me like a little lamb around the farm on chores.
i want you to be quite sure of your place as my little girl.
i want  you to jump onto the couch for tv dinners.
i want you to always yank your head upwards from whatever you are doing & then gallup towards me when you hear me calling "rose" around the fields.

i know quite well that raising a piglet is not like raising a real child, no matter how many times i make the comparison. and i am quite aware of the oddity of the friendship i have formed with her. but this past sunday, we spoke with our future farm bosses, up in massachusetts (HAVE I TOLD YOU WE ARE MOVING TO MASSACHUSETTS?!?), and they gently informed us that they don't allow animals in the house....if you haven't gathered yet, we allow everybody into the house --i cannot even begin to process how that will affect the no.1 of dependents himself, our dog--

so tomorrow we begin training sweet little rose to a fenced in area behind our house. she will have all the bells & whistles that a modern day piglet demands...shady trees, good pasture, a pagoda styled home built by nick (upon further google search it looks nothing like a pagoda...i must be thinking of something else), a kiddie pool, compost galore, we are even importing a piglet friend, vangogh, from the other side of the farm to keep her in good, humorous, company. but i hate change. and true to form, i am hating every minute of making rose more like a pig and less like my little rose. so i had to vent whine to zee blog.