Never Again?

WORD FOR THE DAY By learning to accept and even embrace the inevitable sorrows of life, we can experience a more enduring sense of happiness.

SHARON SALZBERG

I know this is not referring to it specifically, but I am always surprised by people who lose a pet and decide they will never get another because it hurts too much. Pets enrich life so much, that to shutter the idea of ever getting another because of the pain of grief is so foreign to me. Living means grieving, it is inevitable. There are many studies the show that people who are accepting of all their feelings, whether society deems them good or bad, fare better, both emotionally and psychologically, than those who attempt to repress or avoid.

I do, however, understand the idea of the last dog. My sweet auntie and her husband have had dogs for the last 60 years. They had boxers and retrievers over and over and I can remember being particular friends with 2 of the many. Their last one, Gidget, passed and they decided she was their "last dog". It broke our hearts. My sisters and I told them that any of us would care for a dog if need be but they opted out. I get it.