The Funeral.com Journal

Resources to help you create tributes as unique as the people (and pets) you love. Learn how engraving, photos, colors, and symbols add meaning; discover scattering rituals and at-home memorial ideas. We focus on the details that matter—because small choices can carry a lifetime of comfort.

Disenfranchised Grief: Why Society Doesn't Respect Pet Loss

Disenfranchised Grief: Why Society Doesn't Respect Pet Loss

There’s a particular kind of loneliness that can settle in after a pet dies. Not the loneliness of an empty leash hook or the silence where paws used to click...

The Financial Guilt of Keeping a Sick Pet Alive (And Why It’s Okay to Stop)

The Financial Guilt of Keeping a Sick Pet Alive (And Why It’s Okay to Stop)

There’s a moment many families remember with painful clarity: the vet is speaking gently, but the numbers on the estimate feel loud. Maybe it’s a new medication that costs more...

Do Only Humans Have Souls, or Do Animals Have Souls Too?

Do Only Humans Have Souls, or Do Animals Have Souls Too?

Most people don’t spend their ordinary days debating the definition of a soul. Then a pet dies, and suddenly the question feels less like theology and more like ache: Where...

Grieving Someone You Were Estranged From: Mixed Emotions, Regrets, and Finding a Way to Say Goodbye

Grieving Someone You Were Estranged From: Mixed Emotions, Regrets, and Finding a Way to Say Goodbye

When someone dies after a long season of distance—an estranged parent, sibling, ex-partner, or once-close friend—grief doesn’t arrive in a single, clean emotion. It arrives as a stack of feelings...

Why People Feel Embarrassed About Pet Grief

Why People Feel Embarrassed About Pet Grief

The first time someone says, “It was just a dog,” or “At least it wasn’t a person,” it can land like a small betrayal—especially when your whole day has been...

Handling Pet Loss Anniversaries With Grace

Handling Pet Loss Anniversaries With Grace

The first time the date shows up on your calendar—one year since the day you said goodbye, or the week your pet stopped eating, or the morning you brought them...

Why Pet Loss Hits Harder for Single People

Why Pet Loss Hits Harder for Single People

When you live alone with a pet, your home doesn’t just contain your life—it organizes it. The rhythm of your mornings, the shape of your evenings, the reason you go...

Pet Loss and Identity: When a Pet Was Your Purpose

Pet Loss and Identity: When a Pet Was Your Purpose

There are losses that hurt because of what they take away. And then there are losses that hurt because of who they take away. When a pet has been central...

How to Rebuild Your Daily Routine After a Pet Dies

How to Rebuild Your Daily Routine After a Pet Dies

When a pet dies, it’s not only the quiet in the house that hurts—it’s the sudden collapse of structure. The morning that used to begin with a nose at your...

What Do You Say to Someone Who Is Grieving the Loss of a Pet?

What Do You Say to Someone Who Is Grieving the Loss of a Pet?

When someone experiences the death of a beloved pet, the loss can feel all-encompassing, touching every corner of their daily life. Pets are more than companions, they are trusted friends,...

Mindfulness for Pet Loss: How to Stay Grounded While Grieving

Mindfulness for Pet Loss: How to Stay Grounded While Grieving

Pet loss can feel disorienting in a uniquely everyday way. One moment you’re reaching for a leash that isn’t there. The next, you’re standing in the kitchen at the time...

Signs Pets Leave After Death: Comforting Interpretations and Symbolic Moments

Signs Pets Leave After Death: Comforting Interpretations and Symbolic Moments

In the days after a pet dies, the house can feel strangely loud and strangely quiet at the same time. You still reach for the leash. You still listen for...

Pet Loss and Complicated Grief: When Healing Feels Stuck

Pet Loss and Complicated Grief: When Healing Feels Stuck

Some losses rearrange your whole life quietly. A dog who used to follow you from room to room. A cat who slept against your ribs like a tiny heartbeat. A...

When Your New Pet Brings Up Grief for the One You Lost

When Your New Pet Brings Up Grief for the One You Lost

Bringing a new pet home after a loss can feel like opening a door you’re not sure you’re ready to walk through. On the surface, it may look like a...

Pet Loss in Blended Families: Shared Pets, Shared Grief, and Complicated Emotions

Pet Loss in Blended Families: Shared Pets, Shared Grief, and Complicated Emotions

In a blended family, a pet can become the one relationship that feels uncomplicated—steady affection, familiar routines, a warm body on the couch that doesn’t care whose weekend it is....

Why Losing a Pet Can Trigger Old Grief You Thought Was “Over”

Why Losing a Pet Can Trigger Old Grief You Thought Was “Over”

The day you lose a pet can feel oddly doubled—like you’re grieving the dog or cat in front of you, and also grieving something older that you didn’t expect to...