Tombstone Tuesday: Sunshine Gatlin

Sunshine, my orange and white tabby girl, was born on 15 July 1990. The person who brought her to the Bergen County Animal Shelter in Teterboro, Bergen County, New Jersey was from Weehawken, Hudson County, New Jersey, so perhaps Weehawken was Sunshine's birthplace. I adopted Sunshine on 12 September 1990, four days after she had been brought to the shelter. She was the first cat that was ever all mine. She was like the feline version of me.

We had more than twenty years together. Sadly, she developed chronic renal failure. She survived for more than twenty-one months after her diagnosis, but the day came when she was too weak to fight any more. She passed away at Montville Animal Hospital in Towaco, Morris County, New Jersey on 13 November 2010.

Sunshine is buried in Abbey Glen Pet Memorial Park in Lafayette, Sussex County, New Jersey, in Section 15, Hillside, Row D, Block 8, Lot B.

The pet cemetery has a Gift of Love Memorial plaque. I added Sunshine's name and dates to it. I also added my cats Velvet and Ember, whose ashes were scattered on the grounds of the cemetery. I added Ember and Sunshine to the plaque at the same time, so Ember's name is above Sunshine's. I had added Velvet's name years earlier, but Sunshine's name ended up next to Velvet's name, one row over. My three girls are all together just like they were in life.