by suzanne nolan
lady grey and her siblings were
abandoned in our garage in upstate new york nine years ago. my daughter
and i became surrogate mothers, bottle-feeding them and nurturing them.
i instantly formed a bond with the grey cat, who i called mr. grey,
thinking it was a male, and the calico, which we called kelly. we found
good homes for the other two, and decided we couldn't part with mr. grey
and kelly. when we took them to the vet, mr. grey became lady grey, and
she was such a lady...graceful, sweet, and loving. she became "my"cat,
and kelly became lisa's cat. for nine years, lady would sit on my chest
and lick my nose and chin...her way of kissing me. i would call her
ladybaby, sweet potato, and petunia, always telling her how special she
was. i never imagined we would part the way we did. she disappeared on
august 25, and i still cry every day for her. i'm starting to get over
my depression, which is healthy, but i can't seem to let her go. i
distributed 500 flyers, visited shelters, vets, put ads in the papers,
but all the leads i got were false. i miss her so much, and not knowing
what became of her is torture to me. i wonder if she was hurt, if she
got lost, if she went off to die, and when the nights started to get
cold, wondered if she had shelter. there is no closure. i had another
cat for eighteen years, and when she died, i was devastated, but i
grieved and cried, and went on with life. this is so much harder to deal
with. i go outside every night and say goodnight to her and hope she is
at peace, and know i will go to my grave calling to her. please pray for
lady grey. thank you.