Just a Guinea Pig

 Her name was Giddy Sophia. 

I've been raising and showing guinea pigs for over 40 years, and I love them all. They all have names and pedigrees and their own little personalities. 

Along the way there have been just a handful who have been...bigger than life. 

Sophia was the biggest. 

When she was born, I was thrilled with her markings. They were almost perfect in a pattern that almost never even gets close to almost perfect. There was only one patch that was not perfect- it was a mixture of colors, but they were contained in that one patch and didn't bleed out into the others. I knew that was a fault, and considered letting her go to a pet home. 

The guinea pig show world is rife with cutthroat competition, and I'm very particular about which ones I keep, and even more particular about which ones join the show team.

Yes. I will interject here that this all sounds ridiculous, and I will admit that if I have learned one thing in the four decades plus of doing this that it's I can never ever EVER make fun of anyone else's hobby. Ever. 

Back to Sophia.

I decided to go ahead and show her. Her one side was perfection, and the other side was almost perfection, and she had...something about her. A twinkle in her eye that said, "Look at me. Just look at me!"

Her first big show was a national show here in Texas, and there was a little photo booth set up for people to take photos of their animals just for fun or to showcase a win. There was also a camera crew there doing a documentary on people who raise and show small animals. They wanted to take some footage of a guinea pig in the photo booth, so I put little 5-month-old Sophia up there. Wearing a tiny cowboy hat. Then I stepped back so they could film her. 

The cameraman said, "Won't she run away? There's a lot of noise and people..." and I said, "Nope. She's fine." And she was. She sat with that cowboy hat on for about 15 minutes, little head up, proud as could be.

Most guinea pigs tolerate the shows. There's travel and new noises and sights and those damn judges who expect you to sit still so they can see you. Sophia loved it. She loved the travel and she loved the judges and she really loved showing off. Most guinea pigs will "sit pretty" for a few seconds, and then wander off or scurry away. Not Sophia.

Once she was set anywhere, she'd pose herself impeccably and not move a hair till she was picked up again. She wasn't scared, she was a professional. You could see it in her eyes. "Look at me!"

Her last show was the national guinea pig show in California, and I decided to see how she liked taking travel photos. She. Loved. It. I set her on a petrified log and took a close up. I backed up to get the entire log *and* the teepee behind it. She never moved. 

At the show, while she was being judged along with several others, a truly vicious fight broke out between two guinea pigs- one had hopped over into the other one's pen, and everyone turned to watch that. It lasted about 30 seconds, and when everyone turned back, the other pigs had high-tailed it to the ends of the judging table, but Sophia was still posing. "What are you all doing? Look at me!"

My favorite photo from the trip was taken at a gas station in Winslow Arizona...on the corner of course. But it was a corner on an interstate highway. There was a hotel sign right up on the side of the road for the Winslow Hotel, and I hesitated. Semi-trucks were barreling past, and so many cars, and way too many motorcycles. I perched her on the top of the sign and said, "Stay right there" and she gazed down at me *blink blink* "Where would I go? You put me here, so of course I will stay here." I backed up three, six, twelve big steps to get the whole sign in the photo, and then hurried back to her. She was gazing off into the distance. "I am as tall as a tree! Look at me!"

I decided that even though she was retired from showing, she enjoyed going, so I would continue to take her to shows. I bought her a special carrier, and a brass plate for the front. It says, 

The Queen Has Arrived

BIS Giddy Sophia

Head Tour Guide

Even with her messed up patch, Sophia won multiple Best in Shows. 

Our first show after April in California was in June, and Sophia in her purple carrier rode shotgun while the others were in their show carriers in the back seat. At the show, she helped me do the show secretary duties and pass out donuts. 

Just a few weeks ago, we went to the first show of the season (shows run fall thru spring here in Texas), and she supervised the show as only a queen could do. I had two chairs with me. One for myself, and one for Sophia's carrier. 

Even though she was retired from showing, Sophia preferred to live with the show team here in the house rather than out in the guinea pig barn (yes, they have their own barn). 

When I cleaned their pens yesterday, she was perfectly fine.

This morning, she looked a little...off. I took her out and listened for congestion and there was none. No symptoms at all other than seeming preoccupied with something going on inside her. She wasn't in pain or struggling to breathe, no nasal discharge or diarrhea. She was definitely not thin. 

I had a terrible feeling of dread and I held her. She snuggled in as I recounted all our adventures, and all those we were still going to have. She was not even two years old and should have had a lifespan of at least five years. 

I put her back and gave her her morning apple and she nibbled at it. 

I told her I'd see her tonight after work.

She stopped eating. *blink blink* "We've had a grand time, mom. Look at *us*!"

Then she started nibbling again.

When I got home tonight, she was gone. 

Oh, my Sophia. 

For the rest of my life, whenever I see a good perching spot for a photo op, I will see you there, sitting as regal as a furry potato can be, gazing proudly into the distance.

"Look at me!"