Also my condolences! So many years you spent together
I agree so much!
Regarding getting a new pet, I also see it as no simple "replacement", a "I buy me something new", to adopt another one. My in-laws have many pets and are fostering (no bearded dragons so far, but cats (including very small kittens that need to be raised by hand), dogs, the random farm animal such as goats their former owner didn't want anymore, and are also certified to legally take in animals in need from the wild and I remember them having deer, hedgehogs and such), and it sometimes happened that when one of their pets died, a foster pet came in just a few days later because now, as sad as the reason was, a spot was free. I keep it very much with the poem I once read on a German website about the "last will of a pet": to give this very good place to another animal in honor of the one who is not longer here with us.
I translate it here for you (keeping it a bit shorter):
"I'm old and don't have many days left.
When humans die, they make a will to give all their belongings to those people they love.
If I could write, I would make such a will, too.
I would give my good home to a poor soul, a pet in need. My dish, my bed, my toys, your caring hand and voice.
My dear human: Once I die, please don't say "never ever a pet, it's so hard to let them go".
Moreover, I beg you, please give this home to another pet.
I would be proud if you could say that after having lived with me, there should always be a pet in your life.
So please, go out, and find a pet in need to give him my place with you."
(original one, written for a dog:
Testament eines Hundes - Tierheim Kandelhof)