Missing pets
I had to leave my two cats behind with my XAB. It's extremely hard to not have them with me. I've had cats my whole life and they have always been such a comfort and stress reliever. We got Elly a few years ago, a year after we moved in together. She brought such joy to us in the good times. She stuck with me through the worst times. I felt horrible when we got into fights (including broken glass shards) and she would be terrified. Then, when he sort of made an attempt at getting help, we got an 8 week old kitten. I didn't think it was a good idea because I didn't trust him at all to get sober. But I trained her to use the litter box and we introduced her to Elly, they soon became best friends. Now a year later, I am in a much better place but heartbroken over them. I couldn't take them with me, no pets allowed in my apartment and he literally would have hurt me if I took them. Plus I would feel bad because he really has nothing left and he has always taken good care of them. Now I'm trying no contact to sort out my feelings but he has sent me a few adorable photos and a video of them. I also have a ton of photos of them on my phone. Bittersweet. It just sucks not having them running around making me laugh, cuddling with me. I'm trying to not think about it. I'm trying to focus on the yellow lab and cats I want in the future.
If you had this happen to you, how do you get through the sadness?