Dear Royal Family,
You’re not seeing things. I haven’t lost my mind. I’m simply addressing you in the manner Prescott has requested.
Yes, technically you are our glittering girl’s “sponsors.” This is your formal title.
But Prescott, the cat who frolics over formality, has ideas of her own.
And Prescott, the cat who loves life, is very convincing.
How else can we explain her exuberance? Prescott has seen the worst the world can offer. Her silver stripes are no stranger to suffering. Last winter’s injuries left her with lasting scars: a slumping tail, a petulant urinary tract, and a daily double-header of getting her bladder expressed.
Yet Prescott has convinced all her yesterdays that today is the best day of her life…and tomorrow’s looking pretty stellar, too.
How else can we explain her tenderness?
Prescott’s huge peridot eyes have seen much that does not sparkle. We weren’t there on that terrible night in February 2023, but all evidence suggests that someone did something unspeakable to the gentle grey cat. Many hearts would never get past such betrayal.
Yet Prescott has convinced herself that light overcomes the darkness, and love is stronger than death.
How else can we explain her life itself?
When Prescott came to Tabby’s Place, the finest veterinarians cautioned us that her injuries were “not compatible with life.” On the brink of sepsis, Prescott had plundered our love with her sweet spirit, making “air muffins” with her exhausted paws even as she ached. No one on the Tabby’s Place staff slept that night, wondering what morning would bring.
Prescott convinced life to let her stay at the party a little longer.
Prescott convinced miracles to reign.
And today, Prescott rules the Tabby’s Place lobby with giddy grace and miraculous mischief.
To meet Prescott is to find yourself in the presence of greatness. But like all the greatest minds and hearts in history, Prescott wears her splendor lightly. She’s pleased for you to fall at her feet in adoration, but only if you jump back up and leap around the lobby like a lunatic with her.
She would rather be silly than majestic. She knows that being silly is the best way to be majestic.
So she rolls like a tumbleweed with Hips, a hilarious sight: the broken sprite from Rhode Island and the broken beluga from Beirut show what it means to remain unbroken, no matter what your body says. Prescott prances like a ballerina-comedian; Hips gallops like a white rhinoceros; life itself laughs out loud.
She plants her peridot gaze on people great and small, loving so intensely, you find yourself fond of life, too. No matter what your day has dealt, a visit with Prescott will convince you that you are the richest tycoon under the sun.
Like all the great ones, Prescott knows her worth. She recognizes that she is loved. There is a confidence and comedy in her step: “isn’t it delicious that we are all here together? Isn’t it ridiculous to live in a world with ladybugs and Hips and squeeze-tuna and toes?”
She seems to know that she’s the face of our Linda Fund Matching Challenge, Tabby’s Place’s biggest annual fundraiser. She has convinced herself to forget why that’s the case — what injuries? what tragedies? — but she accepts the accolades.
She is pleased to be a legend. She is greatness inspiring greatness.
She takes nothing for granted, except the fact that everyone adores her.
She feels regal and wants everyone to feel the same.
Which brings me back to the beginning of this update. The day you opened your heart to Prescott, you became her Royal Family.
When I walk into Tabby’s Place, the words fall out my mouth without thought: “Good morning, my queen!” Prescott plants her love on me. Prescott runs infinity-signs around my ankles.
Prescott convinces me that love reigns. Prescott is very convincing.
And so, dear Royal Family, I welcome you to a storybook we shall share. Each month, I will report back from Prescott’s kingdom. We will marvel together at a living legend who loves us.
We will love her more than my too-many words can express.
And starting right here, I will thank you with all my heart. Your generosity is Prescott’s lifeline. Being Prescott, she’ll use it as a jump rope.
Being you, you’ll give her a future even more miraculous than her past.
The best is yet to come, Royal Family.
Long live the Queen!
Love, your correspondent,
Angela
PS: If you’re getting this update because you sponsor our General Fund, but Prescott has stolen your heart, we’d sure love to add you to her Royal Family. Please feel free to email me (at@tabbysplace.org) if you’d like to transfer your sponsorship from the General Fund to Queen Prescott the Great and Good. You will make her day (and mine).
PPS: One last thing…I’d like to formally invite you to the Grand Opening of Quinn’s Corner on Saturday 10/7! From 12-4pm, we’ll be celebrating Tabby’s Place’s expansion for FeLV+ cats, and we’d sure love to have you with us. We’ll have tours, speeches, activities for all ages, and of course visits with our sensational cats! We’ll be emailing you further details soon, but please mark your calendars for this fabulous moment in feline history.