this is an amazing and true story about real people and animals in the area where i live in southeast new mexico. we have a friend who runs a horse ranch about five miles south of us, not far from the town of mayhill, new mexico, which couldn't have more than about a hundred permanent residents in the town itself. this friend is good with horses and animals in general, and she doesn't mind the isolation (she goes to get supplies about once a month), but it bothers her a lot when she loses an animal; she lost a dog not too long ago, and a cow fell in the mud and she lost her, too. that's the hard part, she says. going riding is good. getting out there and running the horses around the wild mountain terrain, you can't beat that.

on president's day a mule was born to her appaloosa horse: his mother was the horse, and his father was a donkey. he was born at the wrong time of year, but because the weather and the times were so bleak nationwide, a strange thing happened. my wife put his picture on facebook, and it went viral - it got thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousand likes. thousands of shares, then tens of thousands. she told the friend and they too put a picture on facebook. same thing happened: thousands of likes, instantly. finally they made a separate page for the mule.

he was just photogenic: everyone that saw him, loved him. he had kind of donkey ears, but white spotted body, a little awkward on his feet, like all babies, but he had a kind of charm that, when you saw his picture, you immediately were drawn to him. he was a precious angel on this earth and everyone who came anywhere near him loved him.

well, you can imagine what happened. about a week later, he died. he had a heart condition, and he was born in the wrong month: he should be born in april or something, in order to get a better start on life. there was a story about colostrum: the mother lost it early, and he didn't get any. sometimes this kind of thing is unavoidable. they don't all make it.

the horse ranch friend was heartbroken. this, to her, is absolutely the hardest part. she loved this little appaloosa mule more than life itself. she will probably get over it, but it won't be easy.

i myself forwarded the picture, and several people shared it off of my site. he was, as i could clearly see, a star, known, seen and loved worldwide. it was his fate, and his charm, and i think people could just see that specialness about him. but he was too good for this world. being a social media star is the thing he has now, for his life. he went viral. but now, he's gone on to another world, and the rest of us will have to carry on without him.