Maybe this isn’t the best or most appropriate place to say t..

Maybe this isn’t the best or most appropriate place to say this, but I share so much with y’all already that I feel comfortable sharing this with you, and to be honest it will be nice to get this off my chest.

Yesterday, I came home from work, and when I went to check on my pet hedgehog, Clint, I found that he had passed away. I’ve always given him plenty of food, water, and love, so I can only think that it was due to natural or uncontrollable causes.

Clint was the only pet I’ve ever had that was mine and mine alone. I remember that after my last ex and I broke up, I was incredibly lonely and depressed. I went to bars daily, knowing I had nothing to go home to. Until, a friend of a friend reached out and said they knew I’ve always wanted a hedgehog, and that they knew someone looking to find a new home for theirs.

I drove an hour and a half that day, and met Clint for the first time. On the way back, we had our first adventure together. I needed to get him new bedding for his cage, but it was storming bad, so it took us over two hours to get home, where I shielded his cage with my jacket as I ran inside, and I got soakeddd. It was kind of funny at the time, and still is, and remains one of my favorite memories.

Clint kept me company when I was alone, made me smile at how grumpy he always was, and during that dark time in my life became one of my closest friends. I’m not embarrassed in the slightest to admit that, and nothing I say here can truly convey how thankful I am to him for that.

We were bachelors for a couple of years, until I met my girlfriend, and then he had a new person to hiss at and be grumpy with and to smell in the cute way he did, his little nose bobbing up and down.

Finding him how he was yesterday, left me devastated, and maybe it seems trivial or stupid to some, I know most of y’all will understand that the loss of a pet is the loss of a cherished friend.

I don’t say any of this in some sick way to capitalize off of my beloved Clint, and in fact I ask that you please DO NOT tip this post.

I’m saying this publicly because, while this may be a place of sex and money and fantasy, it can also be a place of honesty, human interaction, and support. Creators and fans alike; we are all real people with real lives and real struggles and real goals and real families made of people, friends, and pets.

At the end of the day, THOSE things are all that really matter, and though it may be easy to take them for granted at times, remember to cherish them as best you can. I can only hope that Clint knew how much he was loved, and how much he will be missed.

I’ll be taking a few days off from posting and answering messages, but I hope you’ll understand. Thank you.