Usually when a pet leaves our family for the Rainbow Bridge I let Owney write about them. He’s written about Parker, Corky and Kirby. But this time, I wanted to write the post. Our Gracie girl died on July 13th, 2018. She lived to be almost 18 years old. Or at least that’s how old I would guess her age to be. I think she was probably born in November 2000. I’d like to tell you the story of how Gracie came to be part of our family.
At the time we were living in Hillsboro, Ohio. Bobby was a bi-vocational preacher. That meant he preached on Sundays, and had another job throughout the week. I can’t remember if at that time he was working at the record Herald in Washington Courthouse, Ohio, but he came in late one day and said, “You’ll never guess, there is a pregnant cat outside.” My response was probably not what you would expect from a cat person, but I said, “I would have been better off had you not told me that.” We then had a discussion regarding what to do. To me it was a no-brainer, we were to feed the cat. At this time we already had three cats and a dog. We didn’t have any intention of adding another to our family. However, a pregnant cat was in need, so we fed her and gave her water. No, I did not bring her inside.
I had hoped that she would eat and then move along. We hadn’t had much exposure with strays at that point other than with Madison, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. When I went out the next morning the cat was gone. I was like “Great” and went about my day. When I got home from work, however, she was there again. I saw her when I went outside to mow the yard. She came over to me at the shed, and let me pet her. She was so affectionate. I was taken by her right away. I decided at that point she would be an outside cat, and I would call her Gracie.
Because Gracie was obviously pregnant I was a little worried about where she would have her babies. So on our first day together I walked her over to an area we had in our yard that had a dog kennel and a dog house. We had actually gotten the kennel for our cats, Ashley and Ariel, so we could take them outside and they would be safe. The dog house we had purchased later for Madison, thinking that she could stay outside during the day. That never happened. But we still had the dog house. Gracie followed me over to the kennel and dog house and I open the flap for her and said, “You can have your babies in here. It’ll be nice and dry for you and them.”
A day or so later Bobby and I had tickets to see David Copperfield in Columbus with friends. So we were gone until very late in the evening. When we got home we let Madison outside. She ran straight to the kennel. I knew something must be up. I went outside and I heard the sweetest little sounds of kittens mewing. Now I know you’re not supposed to pick up kittens when they’re brand new because it could cause the mom to reject them, but I couldn’t help myself. Thankfully Gracie did not reject them and she was a great mom. So for two weeks maybe, maybe less, she was an outside cat. But it was a very rainy April/May and I got tired of going outside in the rain to make sure she had food and water. Or more to the point, dry food available.
We moved her and her three babies into the house. We kept them separated for several weeks. (Ariel, Ashley and Buddy were always interested in knowing what was going on in the room during that time.) Once the kittens were old enough we let them out to roam. It was clear from the start that Gracie and Ariel would not be friends. Ariel was pretty much the princess of the family and didn’t like having competition. Once the babies were adopted out (all except Fancy, who we kept until she passed away a couple of years ago), Gracie became a fixture under my living room chair for several months. This was to keep her and Ariel separated. Gracie was so docile. Ariel was not. But that was how our routine started. All day Gracie would stay under the chair, until I sat down. Then she would come out and jump on my lap. It was like clock work. And I loved it.
Through the years we got new furniture, so Gracie had to find other places to make her own. She and Ariel stayed pretty much distant from each other — as distant as they could be in our small home! But whenever I sat down, Gracie would come over to me and sit on my lap. I will say, that eventually Gracie and Ariel learned to co-exist together. But you never would see Gracie lay close to Ariel like she did with our other cats.
Gracie also loved milk. Another ritual she had was to cry for milk every morning. She had this one meow that always sound like she was saying, “Milk.” I would pour her a little saucer and then have to pick her up and place her by it. If ever I poured the milk and just left it, she wouldn’t make her way to the saucer on her own. It was my chance to pick her up and pet her for few minutes before putting her by the saucer of milk.
Bobby says that Gracie tolerated him, but that she loved me. I agree. She and I had a special bond. Whether it was because I showed her where to have her babies or I protected her from Ariel, she was my girl. And now she is gone. She was a great cat. We will miss her very much, but I know I wouldn’t have been better off if Bobby hadn’t told me about a pregnant cat outside all those years ago. And if Gracie were here, I think she would agree.
