What’s with the Flying Pigs?!

The idea of driving a station wagon—suburban torpor on wheels—horrified me.

But there I was, behind the wheel of a four-door mom-mobile replete with two car seats carefully fastened in the passenger row.

To neutralize the psychological burden of succumbing to parenthood in this way, I did what any red-blooded me would do: I commissioned a chrome-dipped flying pig hood ornament and fastened it tightly to the hood.

This wasn’t my first brush with airborne porcine symbolism, though.

No, that started several years earlier.

And although in my early 20s, I met the man I am still married to today, it took nine years before I said: “I do.”

Why?

Because I didn’t…

…want to risk divorce, that is. You see, owing to some pretty disappointing childhood experiences related to my parents' (failed) marriage, I was in no hurry to repeat the “sins of the father.”

So, to everyone’s surprise, we finally set a date and dropped a postcard announcement in the mail. On the front, it said:

The Berlin Wall falls.

Signs of life on Mars.

OJ goes free.

And on the back:

Todor and Melissa are getting married.

In the background? A swarm of flying pigs! Never say never, people.

The phrase “When Pigs Fly” is thought to have originated in the 1600s but since most recorded history is just that, history, I suspect it may have been around a lot longer.

GOD: “Eve, you should marry Adam. He only smells like that on Tuesdays.”

EVE: “When pigs flyeth shall I lay with that odiferous beast.”

GOD: “We can’t write that in Genesis. It’ll never sell!”

(It’s a joke.)

To some, “When Pigs Fly” evokes negativity as “that will never happen.” But to me, nothing could be further from the truth.

The flying pig symbolizes an openness to new ideas, possibilities, and avenues.

These mythical creatures represent an upbeat “never say never” attitude—like when a latchkey kid like me grows up to create a life that’s rich, full, and blessed.

Despite the odds.