Comment on Grief without belief: finding comfort without the Rainbow Bridge by Gemma Haynes.
From january- February (this year 2024) in an 8 week period this year I unexpectedly lost 2 cats and a reptile. All unrelated but got sick very rapidly (cats were kidney/liver failure, lizard was bad reaction to anesthetic for routine surgery). Despite our best efforts and expensive vet care we had to eventually say goodbye.
It was like we didn’t have chance to grieve as we lost one then another seemed to get unwell and our focus moved to them until they passed…. then the grief of all 3 hit me like a tonne of bricks. It really affected our mental health (mine and my partners).
Many people were offering kind words and often “the rainbow bridge” was brought up. As athiests we struggled with this and although we recognised the kind intent of those words it wasn’t at all comforting and in fact added to the hurt.
I found this website one night in March (2024) and the words here gave given me great comfort.
“the truth is that the time you had with your pet was nothing short of a miracle. The odds of you both existing at the same point in time in an infinite universe are infinitesimal. How lucky you both were” …. yes we were very lucky.
I will always love and miss them but they live on in my memory and the live I still feel for them.
In loving memory of our babies Smokey, Willy and Georgie.