On March 9th, 2020 there were 695 cases on the day that I lost my beloved cat Gracie.

Where do I begin to tell you how great a love can be for this cat? I always wanted a Tuxedo cat, and I finally got one. She was my retirement kitty so we got to spend a lot of time together. She was very shy and hid from me the first 36 hours. She would hide under the bed so I would drag her out by the scruff of the neck, and put her on my lap, belly up, and tell her pink nose, pink toes in our own little secret cat language.

When I had visitors, she wouldn’t come out for about 23 hours, but her bravery overcame her fear and she came out to see me because we missed each other so much.

She got a UTI and had appetite problems. She lost weight, and had a tumor. And when she came home from the ultrasound, she stopped eating again and stopped moving. So, for the last 48 hours we stayed together here in my green room, and it was just a really exquisite time. On the Saturday night we watched “Paper Chase” and the “Love Story,” which was a great cry movie to get some of our tears out. So, the world outside was in pandemonium but inside my green room, there was no world outside. It was just the two of us; two hearts beating as one on a precious deathwatch, which was really sacred, and like listening to the voices in “Phantom of the Opera,” you know… beautiful… poignant.

She got up to get a drink of water, and actually laid her head down by the water bowl, so I knew how tired she was. So, we knew we may be at the point of her death.

Well, my sister actually wrote a poem about her. Her name was Gracie Allen Burbank, named after a famous lady on TV, and named after Burbank the Cat of “Lethal Weapon.”
I’ve heard that the more you love a pet, the more names you give them.
So anyway, her name was Gracie Allen Burbank. And I miss her very much.

On March 9th, 2020, there were 695 cases, the day I had to say goodbye to Gracie.
Thank you.