[ Post a Response | Heads Over Tiels ]
Posted by birdsrule, TC Advisor on 1/29/2012, 11:21 am, in reply to "Re: Helping our cat cross the Rainbow Bridge...long and sad..."
I don't think you are crazy at all. And we all grieve in our own time....and for as long as it takes.
I kept Rocky's 2 most favorite toys that he played with all the time. And I have one of the pictures I took of him as my wallpaper on my desktop computer.
I live alone, and I sat here in the total silence for 7 months before I found out that Freddy was being put up for adoption from a lady my sister works with. And that was SO freaking depressing, since you know how much birdies enjoy vocalizing. The quiet was absolutely deafening!
And it took me a month or so to stop myself from "wolf whistling" to Rocky when I left the room so he'd know I was still "within range" but of course I never got to hear him answering with the location call that they all do.
Sometimes I'd come around the corner from being in another room and I'd wolf whistle....and of course there was no response. And it took me a long while to stop accidentally calling Freddy "Rocky" since I had brought Rocky home when he was just a baby and had him over 21 years.
I never thought I'd get another birdie, just because it hurt SO much when Rocky passed. And I had many people on our bird boards offering me one of their cockatiels....such a warm, heartfelt offer. But I just wasn't ready.
IMHO I think grieving for a lost loved one never really goes away. It just lessens over time....but it can be immediately brought right back to the surface if you are sharing in the grief of someone who has just lost a beloved pet. I used plenty of kleenex yesterday while writing to you about Rocky and my sister's Shar-pei.
So don't think anything you do in the next few months is silly or crazy. Grief makes us do things to try and ease the pain....like crying, keeping a favorite toy of the pet, talking about it, looking at photos, writing about it, etc.
It's all natural and perfectly normal. I'd actually be kinda worried if you weren't going through a grieving period over your beloved kitty. Some people are good at internalizing pain and grief....but it eventually comes out....just like built up steam from a pressure cooker.
So grieve as long and in the way you need to, and eventually the pain will start to ease and you'll have lots of fond memories to help you through to the other side of the pain.
Hugs from me and Freddy
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