Pets

This is so deeply touching. And a precious tribute to your love.

The other day on NPR; I heard a sort-of “corrective” regarding grief:

There never was supposed to be a “5 stages of grief” - it was “5 stages of death/ dying”; how it got conflated w grief is uncertain.

Freud had at one point expressed disdain for communal / societal rituals to grief. After his daughter and (later) her son died, he felt his earlier (& kinda judgmental) attitude was mistaken.

And most importantly: the getting “over” grief idea is a bit silly. Grief and sorrow changes us, just living changes us, so why wouldn’t grief? With the love & time & luck.... we can remember our beloved ones with more joy than pain.

That said, I sometimes still collapse with grief and guilt over my beloved Aria’s death. 15 + years later.

The pup that helped me to keep going in life back then is now finally sleeping comfortably tonight, with her precious head on my hand in bed. The current arctic blast, bomb cyclone stuff has made me very concerned for any of my spoiled sofa hogs going outside (in Tennessee, so not even in the worst of it). It’s 5:30ish, and she woke me twice this night: once in her disquiet over where she wanted to sleep (picky, her!) and then when she finally decided she had to go outside. (Every moment a concern)

But now her head is on my hand. How can I possibly get up to go potty when she is so very content? My dear little doggo monster...