About Alexandra Heep

About Alexandra Heep: The internet has allowed allowed Alexandra to maintain a semblance of life when encountering an unexpected, lingering health crisis. The Internet is a lifeline which not only allows her to remain connected to friends, but also survive, via writing.While Alexandra Heep is her pen name, she does not hide behind it. Instead, she used it to brand herself on the Internet and to create opportunities.

Alexandra published her first book, a collection of her best poems, on July 11, 2012. You can buy it at Lulu.com

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Sunday, October 2, 2011

Amazing Gracie



Today, it is time to introduce (or re-acquaint, if you are a frequent visitor) my feline co-conspirator, Princess Gracie. She came to me via some other people. Initially, she was a kitten roaming the country side. An ex-roommate’s daughter rescued her, but could not keep her. So my ex-roommate took the cat from her daughter. From there, Gracie attached herself to me. Aforementioned ex-roommate, and mother of Gracie’s second owner, moved out. I kept Gracie, but the owner of the house and his cat did not like Gracie and when I moved out in turn, I took her with me.

Unfortunately, the chain of events also has shrunk her living space. From the great outdoors at first to a triplex with a large yard to a 14x16 hotel room is not a great adjustment for humans who can reason these things out, much less for a cat who can’t.

That is why she is Amazing Gracie to me, or The Princess, depending on the day’s antics. I was really worried if she could adjust and made aware of the possibility (by a good friend) that if she could not, I would have to give her up in order to be kind to her. I always check her mood to see if things still go well with her. I play, offer her treats, and consciously register that she still purrs and carries her tail high, all signs of contentment. Despite an earthquake, a hurricane, and regular fire alarms she copes better than her Mom.


There are also other things that can make living in a small space better for a kitty. For one, she has her very own pillow on the bed. Most people keep a bed on the floor, but that just won’t do for her. Also, she has what I call The Den, but she had a big part in creating that one.


See, I had this tall, long box sitting upright next to the TV for the longest time because of limited space. When I moved in, I saw no other way of making it fit and not make the space look even more cluttered than it already is. But, the princess had other ideas. Every night, after I was fast asleep, she would climb from the TV onto the top of the box and rock on it until it tipped over, waking me up. I would then have to put everything back in it, place it upright again, and try to go back to sleep.

However, she would go on the nightly see-saw ride until I saw reason and came up with the idea to place the box lengthwise along the bed between the wall and the window, opposite the TV wall. It makes things harder for me to move around, but she loves it and adopted it as one of her hiding spots, complete with automatic door flap, that she adjusted with her body weight to function just so. She also found some bubble wrap somewhere that she dragged inside for bedding. I can only imagine her wondering what took me so long to figure it out!


5 comments:

Judie said...

Gracie is a lucky girl.

Glorygarden@msn.com said...

If we humans would only learn to think like a cat, the world would be a better place...nor maybe not...beheaded mice all over the place.. eww! ;-)

Alexandra Heep said...

... and don't forget we all would exit bathrooms jumping around and high-fiving people!

Diane said...

What is it about cats and cardboard boxes? Good that Gracie managed to train you quickly, Alex Otherwise you would have lost a lot more sleep. :-)

Anonymous said...

Loved this story. What a companion that princess is!

Julie