RIP for Pets
During the Covid pandemic, so many of us in Ireland felt the weight of isolation. With social life on pause, grief often moved online. For human loss, there was a familiar place: RIP.ie, where families share death notices and funeral arrangements. The site became a lifeline during those years. It must be pointed out that RIP.ie is a uniquely Irish onlne platform which, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't really exist outside the island of Ireland.
But something else was happening too. A number of our friends lost their pets, some to old age, others to accidents. We knew about their losses, but they didn’t have the same chance to gather, reminisce or mark the moment together. It struck me that there wasn’t a dedicated online space for pet owners to express their grief and honour their companions.
We all know the gentle phrase “rest easy, friend.” that we use when animal pets pass on. It carries the same tenderness for animals that “rest in peace” does for people. One day, I checked if www.resteasyfriend.com was available. To my surprise, it was. I assumed someone else would snap it up and do something with it, so I left it at that. I reckoned somebody somewhere would start up an RIP of pets, similar to that online platform for people.
Fast-forward to 2024. The idea was still rattling around in my head. I looked again and the domain resteasyfriend.com was still unregistered. Retired, kinda, and with a little time on my hands (the big problem with retirement is you never get a day off), I registered the domain. And just like that, my journey began, the very first step to building a place where people could share memories, create tributes and express their grief for the animals who made our lives brighter.
As the old Star Trek line goes, it felt like setting out “to boldly go…”, into the vast unknown of cyberspace with hope and trepidation. If only I knew!!!
Mick
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