When my mom found Myrtle, I was around 8 and already had another cat, Hermione. He loved me a lot like Myrtle does now, but he wasn't nearly as devoted. Myrtle was about 2-3 months old when we found her. She was just a little thing. We thought she was probably the runt and was left behind because she held the rest back. A couple weeks after we found Myrtle, my cat Hermione died. Devastated didn't even begin to encompass how I felt. I cannot remember a time to this day that I have ever cried that hard. Since Hermione died, my dad was going to let me keep this little calico cat that we had just found. I remember her meowing constantly and still now she will talk to you for hours. So, being the Harry Potter fanatic I was at 8 I wanted to name her from the series. My mom cleverly suggested Moaning Myrtle. And so began the life of Myrtle. Little did I know when I was 8 that this cat would become my best friend and loyal companion through all the hurtles life threw my way.

At the beginning, Myrtle was very frightened. She didn't know who or what she could trust, and she would often times sink into the corner of rooms. I slowly began to nurture her. I remember one specific time I held her and rocked her until she fell asleep. From that point on Myrtle was always by my side. She followed me all around the house, would wait for me on the stool in my bathroom until I got out of the shower, and meowed when I talked to her. She was my sidekick and partner in crime. She rarely left my side.

When I was thirteen, my parents got a divorced and Myrtle moved with me to my moms house. A couple years later at sixteen I decided to move back in with my dad permanently and Myrtle accompanied me there. By seventeen, my father had passed away, and I was forced to move back in with my mother, where of course Myrtle came as well. Then year eighteen came and after a senior party hosted by yours truly, I got kicked out of my mother's house. A couple weeks after that incident I found an apartment that Myrtle joined me in. Year nineteen my lease at my apartment went up and I was planing on going to South Africa for volunteer work, so Myrtle and I moved back in with my mom until I got back from South Africa. After I got back, I stayed with my mom for a bit until I bought my house on campus, where I am now. Of course my princess came with me to my new house.

Through all the jumping from residence to residence, Myrtle and I have been the constant in each others life when everything else was changing. Through the chaos she kept me grounded and made me feel loved when I felt unlovable. Nothing and no one would ever love me as much as Myrtle. So, last month when she mysteriously went missing, I was heartbroken. I felt like the ground was falling out from under me. The one thing that kept me sane, was gone. She had disappeared out of thin air. I crashed and burned. I was finally broken. Losing my cat was the last thing I needed in my life at that time. I hit rock bottom. And when I say hit I mean crashed into rock bottom. I spiraled into a deep depression and didn't know how in the world I was going to make it. One day though, I looked myself in the mirror and said "you're going to do it - you're are going to conquer this". From there it was an uphill climb. I'd known for a long time that I needed to change my perspective from pessimism to optimism, but that's a lot easier said than done. Each day I woke up and tried to be positive. I tried to look at the future in the light instead of the dark and slowly but surely I started to get up off the cold hard ground.

After a month of encouraged positivity and the absence of Myrtle, I knew two things. One I was on my way to happiness and two I would never see my princess again, which was devastating but I had came to accept it.

Yesterday, September 26th I woke up early to finish up a speech for my COMM 210 class (yuck). I got my cup of coffee and my breakfast and laid in my bed. As I was typing, I heard a meow from outside my window. It wasn't just any meow though. It sounded just like Myrtle's. I called from my bed, "Myrtle?". Another meow came and I knew. I rushed outside and called her name again. She came running out of the bushes in my front yard and I was filled with tears of joy. I held her in my arms and I have yet to feel so happy. My baby girl was back. My best friend was back. It was hard to believe after a month without her things could go back to normal so easily. I have no idea where Myrtle was for that month, and although I am curious, cats can't talk. So I have taken my blessing and not asked any questions.

I will forever remember the time I lost my princess for a month. I will remember how hard it was to believe she was gone and how low I felt, but the thing I will probably remember the most is how I lifted myself up. How I have started to become a new, better version of myself. I will always keep in my mind the lesson that life has taught me: exude positivity and positive things will come your way.