On a visit to traffic court in the Municiple Building in May 1997 because my mom had gotten a parking ticket right outside our home (we had some work done inside and on those days my mom parked her car on the street in front of the house instead of on the driveway), I saw a listing of available cats from Animal Control. Our prior beloved cat, Kitty, had died 8/30/1996 and I was starting to feel ready to adopt another cat. The next day I called Animal Control, and the Animal Control Officer, Tracy, said she has a young cat about one year old that she picked up in a woman’s basement recently and we made an appointment to see this cat at the Fair Lawn Animal Hospital. They lead us to one of the rooms and here was Berny and he was so friendly and affectionate right away he kept on coming to us and wanted us to hold him and to hug him so we said right there and then that we’ll take him. We were in the midst of having the living room painted so we asked Tracy if she can hold him for one week which she did. We then went back to the Fair Lawn Animal Hospital the following week and took Berny home from the Fair Lawn Animal Hospital and I remember one of the women there at the front reception desk said it’s so nice when an “older cat” gets adopted. When we got home I carried Berny to the kitchen where my dad was and he said “what a nice cat”. And Berny loved his new home and he kept looking at himself in the mirror maybe thinking how handsome he is. There were some kind of flies in the pantry in the kitchen and as we were cleaning that out Berny loved jumping up to try and catch the flies. Mom named him Berny (after a newspaper store in town, Bern Pipe and Tobacco Shop, and often called him Bernala. I called him That Berny and Berny liked to sit on my dad’s lap when he was reading the newspaper or listening to his radio headphones. Everyone loved OBerny, he was so easy going. My boyfriend also loved Berny from the moment he met Berny. That Berny! I can’t believe today is 8 years since our beloved Berny went to the Rainbow Bridge. Berny was such a sweetheart and is always loved and in our hearts forever!💖
9.7.2020