Lilly was born April 23, 2004 a few minutes before midnight. She was the daughter of my other cat, Ginger. From the day she was born, she was my little baby.

She was such a tiny kitten who grew to be a unique cat who loved everyone, every animal, and played with everything. The day before she died, she played with our rabbit.

Lilly loved toys. My room is still filled with little toys, balls, catknip mouses and her small stuffed animals. Out of all the toys she had, her favorite was a small red cat with a bell and catknip. It was her baby. She carried it everywhere she went, and slept with it most nights. Since she usually curled up next to me, I too have slept with her favorite toy, because she insisted.

Lilly was such a clumsy cat, always getting into some kind of trouble. Grace, her middle name is the opposite of what she was when she would climb or jump.

I'll never forget the day when she had ran outside in the middle of winter. Apparently, she didn't like the snow. As soon as the door opened, she jumped straight into the open oven! She didn't stay there very long though, and thankfully she wasn't hurt. She never went near the oven again.

Countless times she'd jump to the chair, or a table only to slide off.

Sometimes when she fell, she'd do a complete backflip onto the ground.

She was such a special little cat. Even though she was 3, she was very small. Alot of her size came from the layers of her beautiful fur.

It was rare to hear her meow. For some reason, Lilly meowed silently. The only time she meowed loudly was when she was scared or in pain. But more often than not, she trilled. It was a wondeful sound that I miss very much. She was always purring.

She loved boxes. Sometimes she'd sneak into the kitchen and find a empty pepsi 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.

Lilly had a special trick. We all referred to it as shaking the paw. If you would hold your open hand to her, she would grasp it in her paw, stretch out her claws and allow you to shake her paw. She loved shaking people's hand. If you didn't shake the minute she wanted you to, she'd get behind you and tap you on the shoulder over and over until you shook her paw. And then, she'd expect you to shake her paw again until she got tired of it.

June 30, 2007 was Lilly's last day on earth. It was a horrible day for us all.

She had went outside earlier and I went to bring her in. She was on the porch, limp, cold, and having seizures. 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.

Shortly after that, 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 that I could actually hear and then she died.

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.

Thankfull though she wasn't in pain long. All her pain ended within 15 minutes after she was with me for the last time.

We buried her up on the hill, under a huge pile of rocks. One rock is painted, with her name and pictures. Her grave has many flowers, and a ceramic cat I painted a few years ago. My sister put a plastic house decoration on it. Mom made a cross out of sticks. It is a nice final resting place. I visted her there daily until we moved....