I found this plush in a shop in Russia. I immediately decided that I should buy it, because it reminded me of my real cat. But in my pocket I had only around 500 rubles and I never loved to spend my money on something that can be used so fast. I don’t remember the price, but I needed twice what I had. So I decided to take a photo of the plush cat and ask my mother about it. When I walked home I was ready for rejection, so I came up with a very simple, yet effective enough plan to get financial support from her no matter what. Because of my age I had no other choice than that childish plan.  When I came to my mother, first what I did, except for behaving nice and doing everything she asked, was an attempt to make her buy the cat by herself, so I assured her how cute the plush was and even showed her a photo of it, as evidence, but she refused to buy it. And when I had to use my last hope, I offered her a very simple deal, which was that I would pay for the first half of the price of the cat and she would pay for the second. Maybe it was because she was tired of me, but she agreed.  From that moment until now this cat has  always been with me. Even if I don’t remember how he helped me, I know that he always sat somewhere on my bed. Now, when me and my family immigrated to America, this plush copy is still with me and cheering me up, while my real cat is still in Russia with my grandmother. But I'm sure that we will still have plenty of adventures with him.

– Milana

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant