I
have a wonderful story to share about a special cat named "Pookie"
(or "Pookensteen" as we called her) who we lost 9 years
ago. I hope you don't mind if I share it with you.
Pookie
was a pure white, part Siamese 4 to 5 month old kitten that my
husband took home from the Police Department. Animal Control had
picked her up and they were going to bring her to the Humane Society.
She was very skinny and covered with fleas. My husband, who was
a Reserve Police Officer, felt bad for her and took her home with
him at the end of his shift. We bathed her with flea shampoo and
the following day we brought her to our vet for a check-up and
vaccines. She was with us for only a year, but we loved her dearly.
She was incredibly smart & funny. When she died, I took it
extremely hard. I begged God over & over to give me a sign
that she was in heaven and that I'd see her again someday. My
prayers were answered.
We
were in the early stages of remodeling our basement at the time.
There was an area of the floor that measured approx. 2 x 3 feet,
that was an inch or two lower the rest of the floor, so my husband
mixed up some cement to fill it in (This was a couple of days
after Pookie died.) We have other cats, and we kept an eye on
them so they would not go in the basement. But when my husband
went down to check on the wet cement about a half hour later,
there were a couple of cat paw prints right in the center of the
wet cement! We couldn't understand how one of our cats could have
gotten downstairs as we had been watching them closely. They were
all sleeping. We checked all of their paws and none of their paws
had any traces of wet cement on them. I joked that maybe it was
Pookensteen...
My
husband smoothed out the cement to get rid of the paw prints,
and once again we kept an eye on the cats. When he went downstairs
to check the cement, there were cat prints in the middle of it
again! Neither of us could believe it! We then noticed the paw
prints were small. All of our cats were very large cats. Pookie
was small and had small paws. Also, it seemed quite strange that
there were only a couple of shallow clearly defined prints in
the center only, with no prints closer to the sides. We couldn't
understand how a cat could walk through it and only leave paw
prints in the center. And if a cat had tried to jump across, and
landed in the center, the prints would have been deeper from the
weight of the cat landing in the cement. Chills ran up my back
- could it be the sign I had been praying for? My husband was
an atheist and did not believe in ghosts or life after death.
But after we found the paw prints for the second time, he too
was beginning to believe they were from Pookie. We could think
of no other explanation!
We
decided to smooth out the cement one last time. We made absolutely
sure this time that none of our other cats went downstairs. Ten
minutes later I went downstairs to check the cement. Sure enough
... there were a couple of small cat prints in the middle of the
wet cement again. My husband & I both knew then that Pookie
was still with us. We left the paw prints to harden in the cement.
I had been given the sign I had requested.
For
a couple of weeks following her death, the other cats acted as
if she was still in the house. Pookie loved to sleep in our rocking
chair and on the left side of the sofa. When another cat wanted
to jump up and sleep in one of these spots, they would put their
front paws up to see if the spot was already taken by another
cat. Although it wasn't (as far as I could see ...), the cats
would look but then would walk away as if it were already occupied,
and they'd sleep someplace else. I would also find her favorite
toy in the middle of the living room when I got up in the morning.
I never saw any of the other cats ever play with that toy - Pookie
was the only one who liked it.
The
house seemed so empty and quiet without Pookie - she was always
by my side during the day and had such a wonderful sense of humor
- she could always sense when I was sad and would do something
silly to make me laugh. I missed her so much. About a month after
Pookie died, we adopted another kitten. When we did, Pookie left.
The cats started to sleep in Pookies favorite spots and Pookies
favorite toy was no longer found in the middle of the room.
Whenever
people tell me that our pets won't be in heaven, I share my story.
Most do not believe it, but my husband & I know that it is
true. The paw prints are still in the cement to prove it.
Thanks
for taking the time to read this.
— Paula
