One day an orange tabby cat showed up on our doorstep. He seemed friendly and hungry, so I fed him some chicken. No surprise, he came back and kept coming back, so I bought some cat food and started feeding him. I asked around the neighborhood and no one was missing a cat. As he started hanging around our yard, I noticed how sweet he was to my 2 ½ year old daughter. When she fell or cried, he raced into her lap and snuggled with her. He watched her, almost as if he was guarding her. He had such a sweet disposition that I decided to adopt him, my first and only cat. My daughter, disappointed that he was a boy, named him Jesse, in hopes that he would become a girl, perfectly logical to a 2 ½ year old. Jesse lived happily with us for 16 years.
A year after adopting him, I remembered a conversation with my late mother when I was young girl. My mother loved children, but she never liked animals. But she told me that if she had an animal she wanted an orange tabby cat that she would name Jesse.
Was that a sign from her from beyond the grave?
Since I don’t have much experience with cats, maybe all of them are sweet with children. Orange tabbies are not rare, and my daughter had been exposed to a cat named Jessie.
Years before, I remembered the moment my mother died. I was at home and before I got the news, a cardinal flew onto the deck right next to the sliding glass door. Cardinals were her favorite birds, this one stayed on the deck and just looked in for about 15 minutes then flew away. I got the call a few minutes later. Cardinals had never been on my deck before or since.
Was that sign?
Many people report these types of signs from deceased loved ones. Some authors estimate as many as 20% of people report signs such as apparitions, hearing voices, sensing presences, smelling fragrances; often in a dream or alpha state. Others report more visceral signs such as telephone calls and energy changes (e.g., lights turning on and off).
Are they real?
For the most part, it depends on an individual’s religiousness or belief in an afterlife. Some people dismiss these signs as coincidences coming from the desire to have a connection. In fact, these signs are common during grief. During my grief over my husband’s death, I experienced several such “connections.” Was it my intense grief, or was it real?
The good news, we get to decide.
Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.
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I’m so glad you had the experience of having an orange cat in your home! I have had cats all of my life but never an orange cat until 9 years ago when we adopted two 8-year-old brothers (Brody and Clancy) from Talbot Humane (to replace two beloved cats who had just passed away). Dr. Rene at the Cat Hospital has always said, “Every home should have an orange cat,” and now I know why. Clancy. the orange cat, was the most affectionate cat I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, we lost him almost 8 months ago, and to this day I still miss him terribly. I’m sure you feel the same way about your Jesse!
I do, and my vet also told me that there is something special about orange tabbies…I am sorry for your loss…they are special
We had an orange tabby named Esmeralda but we called her “little Mom” since she never seemed to mind what other animals we brought into our home. We often imagined her looking at them, giving a shrug and a wave of a front paw to say, “Oh well, just another one”. She lived to be 22 years old and I do still miss her.