Five years ago yesterday, my beloved guinea pig, Atomic Fireball was taken from me not long after I came home from morning services (it was on a Sunday). He was the first animal I had a special bond with and it was an extremely tight one. We were very close and his love for me was so strong that he waited til I came home from church and lunch with my dad and sisters so he could die in my arms.

I still remember feeling his little jaws weakly grind against my arm in contentment as I held him in his last moments and even after he died there was this kind of happy glint in his eye that was very deceivingly lifelike even though there was no life in him anymore. So I know he died happy and that in turn makes me happy. Five years later though, I still miss him every now and then and look back on our happy times together with great fondness.

This portrait is in tribute of the close relationship we had and a lot of time and love went into it.