We went to see the movie Marley and Me last night. It was so wonderful, but incredibly sad! I read most of the book when I was pregnant, but I couldn't bring myself to finish the last 20 pages. We all know how a book about a dog will end.
The day I was reading to the point where I couldn't go on, Billy came home, and I was sitting on the couch crying my eyes out. I looked at him and said, "I hate you." He had been the one who urged me to read it. The combination of the sadness of the book and my pregnancy hormones was bad news.
I just couldn't believe how much Marley was like Winnie. There's a scene where Jennifer Aniston has just put her kids to sleep and the garbage truck pulls up and Marley goes berserk. I can't even tell you how many times something like that happens with Winnie everyday. I'll get Abby to FINALLY go to sleep and all the sudden, Winnie spots a squirrel outside and the barking frenzy begins. Abby's eyes then pop right open, and I know she will not fall asleep again.
After seeing the movie, I am looking forward to seeing the kids grow up around Winnie. I'm sure that there will be times that she'll frustrate the hell out of me...knocking kids over, whipping them with her massive tail, eating their food, etc. However, I know she's going to be a good protector and love them to death. If the amount she licks them now is at all related to the amount of love she feels for them, she is going to kill them with love.
Recently, the kids have started to track her and smile when she comes near them. Will reaches out to grab her when she comes by, and he ends up with his hands and face covered in Winnie saliva since she thinks his reaching out is an open invitation to lick him from head to toe.
I have convinced myself that Winnie is immortal. She will never die so I don't have to worry about all that Marley sadness. Not only do I not want to experience how hard that will be, but I hate the thought of the kids having to deal with it. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Why is it that I can see a movie or read about a person dying, and it doesn't phase me, but an animal, and I'm a mess?! Do I have no sympathy for my fellow humans? Oh well.
2 comments:
Hi Leslie! I'm a friend of Teri's from Charleston and have been following/stalking your blog for a couple months! Hope you don't mind! I had to comment on this post for a couple reasons...1.) My first dog was named Winnie...she was like another sibling...my parents got her before I was born...there are many a picture of me and Winnie from my childhood...and 2.) I too have a lab (mine is yellow) and she is most definitely a Marley...in fact when I took her outside today she got so excited she started running around in circles and jumping up and down, that she knocked over a table in my living room. I told her she had just pulled a Marley. But I love her more than I thought I could love a dog...The movie and the book made me cry uncontrollably...it was ridiculous. I enjoy reading your blog and it sounds like y'all are doing really well! I hear about the 'trips' often from Teri! Best wishes for a Happy New Year!
Count me among the "Couldn't Take It When Marley Died" crowd! My girlfriend and I went to see it for New Year's, figuring it would be a light-hearted way to pass the day and by the end both of us were sobbing uncontrollably. I just couldn't help but think of my little sister (a Golden Retriever) having to go through the same thing and am now hoping I die before she does. Like Leslie, I can deal with human death incredibly well (in the movies or real life), but just couldn't take watching a dog die and had to look away.
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