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ecuintras t1_iupphns wrote

Reply to comment by eb_bartels in I spent ten years researching and writing a book about all the different things people do when their pets die. AMA! by eb_bartels

My grandmother commissioned a painting of her favorite horse when he died. It's been passed down the family for about 50 years now. I'm the youngest one in the family to have a connection to that horse, so I guess the painting gets buried with me :)

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eb_bartels OP t1_iur5i9b wrote

I love this! So sweet that the portrait is passed down, but I know what you mean about things losing their meaning when the last person who personally knew that pet dies. I interviewed some people who said they really struggled knowing what to do with urns full of pet ashes that belonged to their parents, grandparents, etc.

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ecuintras t1_iusf304 wrote

Somehow both my spouse and I became our respective family's reliquary keepers, and we both are the end of our bloodlines. To ensure our pets are never lost, whoever dies first gets to take the pets ashes with them!

For the painting I'll see if the family who bought the ranch wants to hang it in one of the barns, or if the stockyard wants it - they've got a lot of western paraphernalia and no small number of the horse's progeny was auctioned through there.

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