For all Pet Lovers
I just finished the book by John Grogan, called Marley & Me. John is a news columnist who adopted a yellow lab puppy early in his marriage. The dog turned out to be a challenge, but over the years of his marriage and raising a family, the dog worked his way into their hearts and lives. I knew this book would end sadly, but the journey of Marley’s life was totally enjoyable and one that I as an animal lover could well identify.
I decided to put this in my blog, when I laughed so hard that I cried during the telling of having the dog literally drag the table away from an outdoor eating area in Boca Raton, Florida, where diners were encouraged to bring their furry friends. Toward the end when Marley gets old and you know what is coming, the tears come for a different reason. When I realized Marley’s intense loyalty to John, as his favorite person. When the dog would climb the stairs even though his back legs were not working right, just because he had to be by John wherever he was, I was minded of my TOAST.
Toast will follow me everywhere. When he is gone, I will miss his pushing the bathroom door open while I am in there. His howling when he is on one floor and I am on the other. That cat misses me when I am gone too. I will surely miss him when the inevitable happens.
I cried uncontrollably when Marley had to be put down, but the book does not stop there. Grogan goes on to deal with his grief, writing a column about this “Worst Dog in the World”, and gets such a response from other “Bad Dog” owners that it fills his email box. While reading them, there is a mutual healing going on, and Grogan goes on to get another dog.
In my case though I feel that the Toast will be my last cat. I don’t want to leave an animal so loyal alone to deal with grief. I will deal with it, but with a brain the size of a walnut, I don’t think my cat can do as well. And I won’t do that to him.
I want to quote from a paragraph Grogan writes before writing the column that makes the whole book a treasure.
“What I really wanted to say was how this animal had touched our souls and taught us some of the most important lessons of our lives. ‘A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours’ I wrote. ‘Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things.a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and above all else, unwavering loyalty’”
And this is why, dear reader if you have read this far, I recommend this book. The last chapters mellow out the awful pain of the demise of Marley. As I put the book away, I discovered a post-a-note that my neighbor to whom I had loaned the book had placed there. She dubs it as “very enjoyable reading.” I can’t remember how the conversation went, if she had heard of the book, or if it was because she had just acquired a very unruly male purebred medium sized dog, but she got to take it on a camping trip and had returned it. I did not pick it up again until after I had cataloged it on the Library Thing. I am glad that I did.
Oh yes, If you are in my area and want to borrow my copy, I am willing to loan it out to the first person that asks. It makes my big collection of books more meaningful to me if I can share.
Mary S.
I just finished the book by John Grogan, called Marley & Me. John is a news columnist who adopted a yellow lab puppy early in his marriage. The dog turned out to be a challenge, but over the years of his marriage and raising a family, the dog worked his way into their hearts and lives. I knew this book would end sadly, but the journey of Marley’s life was totally enjoyable and one that I as an animal lover could well identify.
I decided to put this in my blog, when I laughed so hard that I cried during the telling of having the dog literally drag the table away from an outdoor eating area in Boca Raton, Florida, where diners were encouraged to bring their furry friends. Toward the end when Marley gets old and you know what is coming, the tears come for a different reason. When I realized Marley’s intense loyalty to John, as his favorite person. When the dog would climb the stairs even though his back legs were not working right, just because he had to be by John wherever he was, I was minded of my TOAST.
Toast will follow me everywhere. When he is gone, I will miss his pushing the bathroom door open while I am in there. His howling when he is on one floor and I am on the other. That cat misses me when I am gone too. I will surely miss him when the inevitable happens.
I cried uncontrollably when Marley had to be put down, but the book does not stop there. Grogan goes on to deal with his grief, writing a column about this “Worst Dog in the World”, and gets such a response from other “Bad Dog” owners that it fills his email box. While reading them, there is a mutual healing going on, and Grogan goes on to get another dog.In my case though I feel that the Toast will be my last cat. I don’t want to leave an animal so loyal alone to deal with grief. I will deal with it, but with a brain the size of a walnut, I don’t think my cat can do as well. And I won’t do that to him.
I want to quote from a paragraph Grogan writes before writing the column that makes the whole book a treasure.
“What I really wanted to say was how this animal had touched our souls and taught us some of the most important lessons of our lives. ‘A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours’ I wrote. ‘Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things.a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and above all else, unwavering loyalty’”
And this is why, dear reader if you have read this far, I recommend this book. The last chapters mellow out the awful pain of the demise of Marley. As I put the book away, I discovered a post-a-note that my neighbor to whom I had loaned the book had placed there. She dubs it as “very enjoyable reading.” I can’t remember how the conversation went, if she had heard of the book, or if it was because she had just acquired a very unruly male purebred medium sized dog, but she got to take it on a camping trip and had returned it. I did not pick it up again until after I had cataloged it on the Library Thing. I am glad that I did.
Oh yes, If you are in my area and want to borrow my copy, I am willing to loan it out to the first person that asks. It makes my big collection of books more meaningful to me if I can share.
Mary S.
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