He Was a Luckie Cat

This is Luckie's story.  Way back, on a cold November day in 1996, Kathy and her friends, Deb Galeone, Jo-Ann Lassiter and Jo's son, Shaun, were on their way to JFK airport to pick up some visiting British friends.  These friends were starting a driving tour across America.  Kathy agreed to pick them up at JFK airport and take them to West Islip to visit the Patrick Stewart Research Library, located in the home of Janet D'Airo.  We had just purchased a large blue conversion van which was named Big Blue. This was Big Blue's maiden voyage.  As the Blue Crew crossed over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the traffic slowed to a crawl.  While gazing out over the New York Harbor at the Statue of Liberty, Kathy noticed something move on the median strip.  She yelled "CAT" and stopped the van and jumped out and grabbed a little ball of gray fur.

After picking up their friends at the airport and driving out to Janet's house, it was Janet that exclaimed, "This little kitten is "lucky" to be alive."

Little did Dave know that Kathy was bringing home a friend for their two cats, Friskie and Millie. But once Dave met the little guy and heard of his daring rescue from the middle of the Verrazano-Narrow Bridge, he welcomed him with open arms.  When they took the little fur ball to the vet to get him checked out, his name was recorded as "Luckie" to match the other cats.  It didn't take Luckie long to feel at home.

He instantly bonded with their big male cat, Friskie.  We oftened joked that Luckie was actually Friskie's cat, since he really didn't interact with humans much, unless it was meal time.  Luckie had no problem yelling at anyone anywhere near the kitchen that it was time to be fed.

Most of the time our friends and family didn't know there was a third cat because Luckie would make himself scarce anytime company came around.  He earned several nicknames - Grey Ghost, Scaredy Cat, Vanishing Act. But, every once in a while you could catch him in a cuddly mood.

After Friskie passed away, Luckie would spend most his time with Millie.  Millie would tolerate him, but it wasn't the same.

When Flip and Baxter came into the house, Luckie decided the humans were weren't so bad after all.

By the time we started RVing, Luckie was already over 16 years old.  We didn't think he'd make it through all the uproar. There is not much room to hide in an RV.  However, Luckie may have actually enjoyed the smaller space. He felt more comfortable coming out when folks visited.  He even bonded with Flip.

Luckie went from being the scaredy cat that no one saw to being a regular lap cat who liked to help Kathy with her blog entries.

This is his final blog entry.  After 18 years, Luckie is now officially the Grey Ghost.  Lucky, your spirit will always be with us.