April 1983 to July 24th 1999
Luci and I met in June of 1983 a few days after I lost my
12 year old cat Grabie (Gray-bee).
My mother’s friend called and told her that she had a kitten
who needed help. The friend had seen a strange car stop in
the road. Then someone dumped a brown paper bag out of
the car and the car ran over the bag as it left.
My mothers friend was sick. She said something told her that she
had to go look in the bag. When she looked she found the bag
was full of kittens. Only one of those kittens had survived
and she was the reason my mother’s friend had called us.
The friend knew that we were ‘cat people’ so she hoped we would
take in this kitten (the friend wasn’t allowed to have pets in her
rented house). I knew what a caring cat Grabie had been
and in his honor I said ‘yes.’ That’s how Luci and I met.
It was clear that Luci had been abused. She was so afraid of people.
It took her two months to warm up to me. Throughout her life
she remained afraid of strangers big things and loud noises.
We rarely had guests over because I knew that she would spend
the evening hiding when we did so.
But even with Luci’s fears she never hesitated to come out if
someone was hurt or needed help. She shared Grabie’s golden heart.
Luci saw me through more than I can tell you.
She and her sister Cappricia were the only two constants in
my adult life. (I was a teenager when Luci came into my life- Cappricia
was almost a year old at the time).
Luci was there for me when many human relationships didn’t
work out when school became difficult when jobs presented
problems when I was hurt by some men when I got cancer,
and when I got married.
She was there through it all and always supportive.
One of those stories is particularly interesting. A few years ago
Luci Cappricia and my third cat Arete developed a couple of
new behavioral quirks. They began to jump off of the back of the
couch onto my abdomen while I was lying on the couch.
It hurt and I couldn’t figure out why they were so insistent on
doing this over and over. In addition they would sometimes lay
down on the same spot that they landed on when they jumped.
That of course was nice but still a little confusing. After a
few months of this behavior I began to experience strange symptoms.
I began to have a lot of fatigue pain and weakness.
The many doctors I saw couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me
but the cats continued their strange behavior jumping on
that spot over and over. Several months later I was finally diagnosed.
I had cancer. By that time it had reached stage four.
As it turns out it had originated in my spleen- in the very place
that the cats kept jumping and laying. Luci and her
siblings were with me throughout my treatment and when
the cancer had disappeared from my body they stopped jumping
on my abdomen and laying in that same odd spot.
I truly believe they knew that there was something bad in
there and they were trying to get rid of it.
Luci died a few days ago and I miss her deeply.
She was beautify kind and loving.
And she was especially proud of the fact that she could
figure out how to open any door (provided it wasn’t locked of course).
My precious baby I hope you have found peace and
happiness in your new hiding place.
Luci’s mom
Luci |