Earlier this morning, around 2:10am, my beloved thirteen year old cat Galadriel passed away.
She had become ill this past weekend and spent a few days with the wonderful staff of the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center where she received fantastic care. I was able to bring her home two days ago and spend some good quality time with her… I’m glad that she was able to come home as her passing was somewhat unexpected.
Miss G came into my life as a six week old kitten when I was just a junior in college at Indiana University. A co-worker of mine at Target in Columbus, Indiana, where I was working at the time, had a cat who had just birthed a litter of kittens – and one of them was Galadriel. Ever since she was a little runt kitten that could almost fit in the palm of my hand, she’s been with me.
We’ve lived together in Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Massachusetts, and now Minnesota. Thirteen years, five states, four apartments, and two houses – she’s been the only pet that I’ve ever had as an adult.
She was named for the Tolkien character Galadriel, a female elf who lived in the woods of Lothlórien. I had named her long before the Lord of the Rings movies made her character as well known.
In the movie, Galadriel was played by Cate Blanchett who created a hauntingly beautiful vision of Galadriel.
To me, that’s what she was. Beautiful.
She is going to be incredibly missed.