You can always depend on the kindness of strangers

Kissing Kitten's snout tonight, right in that perfect spot, spooning her curled up body - a perfect fitting puzzle piece, and just to smell her (!) is blissful, just blissful. I love her so deeply, she is damn amazing.

This morning I woke without her in my bed, I did not know whether she was safe, how she was feeling, what she was doing - it was heart breaking. Today I put up lost posters. Poster after poster, each time I taped a poster to a pole I would see her gorgeous face smiling at me below the words 'LOST DOG.' Kitten's face should never be on a lost poster, I thought, to have to create this poster was crushing. The feeling that I would never see her again, that I would never hold her was more than I could bare. She was gone without a goodbye, I thought, without one last kiss. As I walked around Preston looking for Kitten I could feel the sun on my skin and sights of the beautiful world would ignite some excitement and happiness in me but then I would remember. I would remember and I'd ask myself if I could really enjoy these amazing things without Kitten, could I do anything without Kitten? Agony was felt, this feeling was sharp but short, it was replaced by numbness, an empty heart. I appreciated that numbness, I couldn't deal with the constant sharp pain of losing Kitten.

Lionel said to me 'what fucking good a microchip would do!' She would have to be turned in by someone for it to matter, and that wasn't going to happen, he told me. Are we really that horrible? I didn't put 'reward' on my posters. Seeing 'reward' on these posters angers me, how did this monetary reward bullshit begin? What sick bastard would only return someone's treasured friend to their loving home for a reward? Are we really that self serving? The night Kitten went missing a friend told me I can always depend on the kindness of strangers but I wondered, I was unsure.

When I saw Kitten walking the footpath on a lead, safe and happy, I couldn't be more relieved. The man who found Kitten was amazing, he really put himself out for the sake of my special girl. When she was lost and terrified in the storm he spent a great deal of time to catch her and he took her home and looked after her. I couldn't thank him enough; he saved my girl, kept her warm and happy and then brought her back to me. This man wasn't the only incredible person in this story; the person who messaged me after seeing a poster to wish me kind words in my troubled times was beautiful. The many people told us stories of hope as we taped up posters were lovely.That's what we are - Incredible. Beautiful. Lovely.