Lilly was born just before midnight on April 23, 2004, a kitten of my cat Ginger.

She was a very tiny cat. Even as an adult, she never grew very big. My mother nicknamed her "little bit", because of her size.

Her name was Lillian Grace. "Grace" fit her well, because she was so gentle with every one and other animals. In a way though, she was opposite of that name...she was one of the most clumsy cats ever. There were many times she'd fall off furniture, trip or get in to some other kind of trouble. Once she had been determined to run outside in the dead of winter. Apparently, she didn't enjoy the cold snow, and ran back in the second the door opened. The oven door was open, and she jumped inside! Thankfully, she wasn't hurt in any way...but she never again went near the oven.

Lilly loved toys. Out of all the toys she had, her favorite was a small red cat with a bell and catnip. It was her baby. She carried it everywhere she went, and slept with it most nights. Since she loved to sleep with me, I usually had a cat toy in the bed... She loved boxes. Sometimes she'd sneak into the kitchen and find a empty pop can box, she'd squeeze into it and slide across the kitchen with it using one leg. When she wasn't in a pop box, she stole whatever other box was around. One of her main hobbies was shaking your hand. She would get up behind you, and tap your shoulder till you paid attention to her. Then she'd keep at you till you offered her your hand....she'd grasp it in her paw and have you shake it. She knew that trick on the command, "shake da paw", and never failed to obey it. Most of the time she did it because she wanted to. Once you shook her paw, it was over till she was satisfied...she'd sit there and demand you shake it again, and again, and again. If you didn't do it, she'd swat you with her paw and annoy you to death.

On June 20, 2007 Lilly died. She was only 3 years old. She had snuck outside earlier....when I went looking for I found her on the porch, limp, cold, having seizures, and messy because she had used the bathroom on herself. I picked her up, and she screamed once. Once inside I held her. She was banging her head from the seizures and I held it in my hands to support it. Just a few minutes later she got really still. Lilly looked up at me for a minute, and then she grasped my hand with her claws, just like always, and squeezed. She let out one meow (something she never did, her whole life she only made a trilling sound) that I could actually hear and then she died. It was like she was telling me goodbye. She was gone so fast. She died so young.... I still don't know what killed her. She was so healthy and then....gone so fast we didn't even have time to get to a vet. We buried her up on the hill, under a huge pile of rocks. One rock is painted, with her name and pictures. We also made a cross out of sticks for her, and put flowers on her grave.

I still miss Lilly very much...

Memorial Sites for Lilly:

http://www.geocities.com/inmemoryoflilliangrace/ (under construction)

http://lillian.critters.com/

http://www.youns.com/memoriam/memorial.asp?ID=2066