One of my neighbors asked me yesterday if I had gotten another dog yet. I told him no, that we had looked into fostering but that did not work out the way we hoped. For now, we are staying dog free. His response was that once I get a dog, within a month or two I will forget about Peppa. And when people say things like that to me, it stings. It feels like they do not value or respect how much she meant to me.
I understand what he was going for. He was trying to offer comfort, drawing from his own experience. He mentioned that when he got a new cat after losing one, things got easier. He said you do not stop loving them, you just forget. And maybe that works for some people. But I am not trying to forget. I miss Peppa. I love Peppa. And right now I am not ready for another dog.
What bothers me is when people treat it like a casual thing. Like getting another dog is just a simple swap and you move on. Peppa was not replaceable. She was important to me in a way that does not just get filed away because something new comes along.
I will be honest, there are moments where I wish the memories did not hurt so much. Things do fade a little with time and I have noticed that. But that pain is still raw and it is still there, and even in those hard moments I do not actually want to forget her. I just want the ache to ease up a little. Those are two very different things.
We did try fostering as a way to ease back in without making a permanent commitment before we were ready. That experience did not go the way we planned, and after thinking it through we decided that staying dog free for now is the right call. There is no rush. Peppa deserves more than a replacement, and we deserve to be in the right headspace before we bring another animal into our lives.
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