The Story of the Flying Pig
"It can happen when pigs fly............... "
My affinity for flying pigs began several years ago, and has its genesis in my long-time love for figure-skating. As I had always liked the phrase “when pigs fly…….”, when I saw a pair of little ceramic flying pigs in a catalog, I decided to order them. I guess there must have been a lot of people who, like me, had always liked the phrase, because I soon heard back that the pigs were “temporarily” out of stock, and that my order was on hold. After a few months I still had not received my order, and eventually, I forgot all about the little pigs. Several more months passed.
February rolled around, and I was engrossed in the Winter Olympics. One of my long-time favorite skaters was competing in this, their last competition. However, hopes were not high for them. They were widely considered to be one of the best performers and skaters this country had produced, yet they had a long history of choking at crucial points in important competitions. They were generally considered too old, by the sports’ standards, and had barely even made the Olympic team. My greatest hope for them was that they skate as well as they could, and finish their competitive career on a high point.
The afternoon that the technical program was taking place I was surprised by the arrival of a package. As far as I could remember, I hadn’t ordered anything recently, so I had no idea what it could be. When I opened the box, I was amazed to see the two little ceramic flying pigs that I had ordered well over 6 months earlier, the two pigs that I had forgotten all about! That night, when I watched the Olympics, I got to witness something which was nothing short of a miracle. My favorite skater, who had never before made it thru a technical program in a major competition without a large mistake, had skated a perfect program, and actually ended the evening in medal contention! They had skated that program, I realized, at approximately the same time that I had accepted delivery of the box with the long-overdue flying pigs! Two nights later, they somehow managed to surpass their technical program for the performance of their life, and this skater, who had always choked before, who had barely even made the Olympic team and who had been told that they were too old and that they should step aside for younger skaters, skated their way to a silver medal, which many people, to this day, argue should probably have been a gold! And this skater, who was supposed to be skating their last event at that Olympics, ended up going on to have a long and extremely successful professional career which continues to this day.
Now I don’t know whether there was any real connection between the out-of-the-blue arrival of those two very-late little flying pigs and the performance that that skater gave at approximately the same time, or whether it was simply a happy coincidence. But I like to think that there was a connection. And since that long-ago February day, I have embraced the idea of flying pigs as a representation of accomplishing the impossible, of achieving your dreams even when everyone says you can’t. Along the way, I’ve also managed to accumulate, courtesy of skating friends and family, a truly astounding collection of flying pigs – everything from flying pig mobiles to children’s storybooks about flying pigs, from snowglobes to sleepwear. And yes, I still have the two little ceramic flying pigs that started it all.
One of my dreams has long been to have my own art gallery and gift shop. This online gift store is a first step towards that dream. Here’s hoping that this little flying pig brings me as much luck as those first two pigs (maybe) brought my favorite skater. And here’s hoping that all of you have your own flying pig – real or metaphorical – to help you make your dreams come true!
Liza