All the time we spent together.
Many times, when people remember lost loved ones, they are filled with over- whelming sadness—so much so that many people don’t want to remember or talk about them because they fear being swallowed up by grief. In some ways this fear is true; we will never stop missing our loved ones. They will always be a part of our lives, and our hearts will never be the same.
However, if the only thing we ever think about and remember are those last few moments (or weeks), we are forgetting all of those years filled with happy memories. We are forgetting why they are so important and why we loved them. Solely focusing on the end and their absence from our lives is doing ourselves (and their memory) a disservice.
The purpose of this activity is to help you remember and record how you have changed over the years by having a constant and loving companion by your side. It is meant to help you manage the grief caused by the physical ending of your relationship with your pet and to realize that, although they are gone, they will never be forgotten. Their influence and impact will always remain with us.
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Plan to spend about an hour (or however long it takes) on this activity.
- Recall all of the different memories and major life-events that you have had with your pet. These events can be non-related to your pet, such as losing a job or getting married. Remember, your pet was there for you during good and bad times.
- For each life event you defined above:
- ✔ Spend a moment with it.
✔ Was it a good or bad memory?
If it was good, draw the line above the midpoint of the paper. If it was a bad memory, draw the line below the midpoint.
✔ How strong is the memory?
The stronger the memory (positive or neg- ative), the longer the line should be. Extreme events, such as a death, would be a long negative line below the midpoint.
