“No options left” is often just exhaustion talking. When we’re tired, disappointed, or stuck, it’s easy to give up. But the next possibility appears only after we take a breath, ask for help, change the angle, or try the thing that feels too simple to matter.
@MichaelBanster 16 years with Domino 💔 they will change your life furever. Prayers to you and sending hugs and love. I can’t imagine the hole missing in your heart right now. Just remember all of those years together that you both had!
@myolliethe_GD Oh my 🥹 sweet precious fur baby Ollie looks so happy and blessed. I know you were the best momma to him and gave him the greatest life ever! I never want that day to come for me. I have 2 and they are my world. Sending hugs and love to you ♥️
Losing a pet produces grief that is clinically comparable to losing a human family member, and a 2021 study in BMC Geriatrics found that older women who lost a companion animal experienced impacts on their physical health, daily routines, and sense of purpose that lasted for months.
The study explored the lived experience of pet bereavement in older women and found themes of profound loneliness, loss of daily structure, and a sense that a piece of their identity had died with the animal. The women described losing not just a companion but a reason to get up in the morning, a reason to walk, and a reason to talk.
The grief is often dismissed. "It was just a dog" is a sentence that pet owners hear from people who have never had the relationship, and the dismissal compounds the pain. Disenfranchised grief, the term psychologists use for grief that society does not validate, makes the mourner feel they have no right to their own pain, which delays recovery and deepens isolation.
The bond between a person and a pet is not a lesser version of a human bond. Brain imaging studies show that the same regions activated by looking at a photograph of a child are activated by looking at a photograph of a beloved dog. The attachment system does not check species. It checks connection.
If you know someone who just lost a pet and you are wondering whether to send flowers or a card, send it. The research says the grief is real, the loss is structural, and the person is mourning something the rest of the world keeps telling them is small. https://t.co/HR0l1R2Zov
I’ve lived long enough to admit that I no longer have interest in:
1. Being out after dark
2. Wearing pants that are too tight
3. Attending a wedding unless I’m SUPER close to the bride or groom (see # 1)
4. Hanging out with people I don’t really enjoy
5. Pressing through phone prompts
6. Arguing unless it’s SUPER important
7. Attending any function that results in a tremendous amount of sweat
8. Driving in 5 lanes of traffic
9. With a few exceptions, talking instead of texting
10. Cleaning up after anyone who isn’t a grandchild.
Feel free to add your own. But. Yeah.