Gracie's Eulogy

"No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat."

That's always been one of my favorite quotes, well, because it's true. Now that I've experienced the loss of my cat Gracie, it has become even more true.

Our sweet little Gracie Lou passed away last weekend, on February 20th. She was alive in the bed next to me when we went to sleep that night, and gone by the time the sun came up. Even though she had been declining for several months, and had been actively dying over the past several days, it was still a sad realization to wake up to.

I've had Gracie in my life since I was 12, and I'm 32 now...so to say I'm heartbroken is a bit of an understatement. It's been a hard few weeks.

She was not in pain, thankfully. She would still purr when we pet her. We were in the middle of that crazy historic snow  storm during all of this, and I'm so thankful that we never lost power so that we could keep her comfortable at home.

Since I'm a eulogy writer and all, I thought it was appropriate to write her a little piece up now that I've had a little bit to think about it. She had a long and adventurous life for sure.

My dad is the one who rescued her way back then. She was just a little kitten, it was a rainy October night in 2001, and he was on his way home from his Judo lesson. He spotted her on that back road bridge in Waxahachie, cold and shivering, pulled over and picked her up. She was the only kitty around, no others, just a tiny, beautiful, black and white kitten.

When he brought her home, I pretty much claimed her as mine, lol. I named her Gracie Lou after "Miss Congeniality" (the big movie back then). She had lost her voice from crying so much, who knows how long she had been alone out there. We fed and watered her and later that night, I put her in my bed… I remember she pooped all over one of my blankets - it became hers after that!

I like to think she had a fulfilled life for a cat. She was an outside girl for a little while, but mostly she was indoors, especially once she became older. She’s had a litter of beautiful kittens, survived some close calls and a couple surgeries, and had been by my side through thick and thin, through my teenage years and then my twenties, and beyond.

My mom once told me that pets stay with us for as long as we need them…well, I must have needed Gracie a long time. This next chapter without her is going to take some getting used to. My whole family loved her very much..she was kind of this fixture that was always there, and we will all miss her.  I’m so thankful we can lay her to rest in the town she came from, and that she’ll always be close by <3

Gracie was 19 years old.

We love you baby girl, and we always will.

-Aubrey