Grief and Grieving for a Pet

Grief and the loss of a loved one is a funny process. Yesterday while vacuuming the family-room I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness. Why is that you might ask? Because every time I vacuum in our house I feel like I am erasing more of my Little Jimmy.

In the old days, our home was full of dog hair. The carpet had a coating of dog hair. All the corners of the rooms had dog hair in them. It got to the point where I named some of the dog hair collections. The most common name was Wee Jimmy. Of course my Sweetheart was always after me to vacuum so that these Wee Jimmys could be gone…you know that whole thing about keeping the house clean and all that. Thankfully though, each week the Wee Jimmys would reappear.

Well now as I vacuum I feel a great sadness. When I vacuum the house I feel like I am erasing a little bit more of my memory of Jimmy. Back when Jimmy was with us here, after vacuuming, typically, the container on the vacuum cleaner was packed solid with dog hair. Now, the vacuum container has crumbs, dirt, food that the babies have dropped, and just a little bit of Jimmy’s hair.

Even though it has been three weeks since she has passed it still makes me sad to think of how much I miss her.


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One response to “Grief and Grieving for a Pet”

  1. caitlyn James Avatar

    Yep, I call that the, “I have to remember to tell… Oh.” syndrome. For dogs, I can see vacuuming being one of those unexpected moments of memory. The remembering a loved one isn’t here. So very tough.