masterwordsmith-unplugged

Then for the past few months, so many of my students both present and past asked me if I had watched the movie starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston or if I had read the book. The straw that broke the camel's back of resistance so to speak was when Tony told me that he cried when he read the book and also when he watched the movie!!! Tony? He actually read the book and cried? And he cried at the movie too????

Hmmm...I thought - Shucks. It must be good - all the brouhaha about the book was obviously no hype. But was I brave enough to read the book? After all, I am supposed to be tougher, harder on the inside and outside? :-)

Well, my dear readers. I could avoid the book no more as a dear friend gave me the book(mine is the same edition as the pic below) as a present last week. I started reading the book last night and have not been able to put it down.



Believe me. "Marley & Me" by John Grogan is such a beautiful book that I would make it compulsory reading for anyone who can read!!! I have not finished the book yet and I cannot wait to tell you, dear reader, what a brilliant work of art this is...

It all started when John Grogan wrote the following column in the Phildelphia Inquirer on January 6th 2004.

Saying Farewell to a Faithful Pal
John Grogan


In the gray of dawn, I found the shovel in the garage and walked down the hill to where the lawn meets the woods. There, beneath a wild cherry tree, I began to dig.

The earth was loose and blessedly unfrozen, and the work went fast. It was odd being out in the backyard without Marley, the Labrador retriever who for 13 years made it his business to be tight by my side for every excursion out the door, whether to pick a tomato, pull a weed, or fetch the mail. And now here I was alone, digging him this hole.

"There will never be another dog like Marley," my father said when I told him the news, that I finally had to put the old guy down. It was as close to a compliment as our pet ever received.

No one ever called him a great dog — or even a good dog. He was as wild as a banshee and as strong as a bull. He crashed joyously through life with a gusto most often associated with natural disasters.

He's the only dog I've ever known to get expelled from obedience school.

Marley was a chewer of couches, a slasher of screens, a slinger of drool, a tipper of trash cans. He was so big he could eat off the kitchen table with all four paws planted on the floor — and did so whenever we weren't looking.

Marley shredded more mattresses and dug through more drywall than I care to remember, almost always out of sheer terror brought on by his mortal enemy, thunder.

Cute but dumb.

He was a majestic animal, nearly 100 pounds of quivering muscle wrapped in a luxurious fur coat the color of straw. As for brains, let me just say he chased his tail till the day he died, apparently convinced he was on the verge of a major canine breakthrough.

That tail could clear a coffee table in one swipe. We lost track of the things he swallowed, including my wife's gold necklace, which we eventually recovered, shinier than ever. We took him with us once to a chi-chi outdoor caf and tied him to the heavy wrought-iron table. Big mistake. Marley spotted a cute poodle and off he bounded, table in tow.

But his heart was pure.

When I brought my wife home from the doctor after our first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, that wild beast gently rested his blocky head in her lap and just whimpered. And when babies finally arrived, he somehow understood they were something special and let them climb all over him, tugging his ears and pulling out little fistfuls of fur. One day when a stranger tried to hold one of the children, our jolly giant showed a ferocity we never imagined was inside him.

As the years passed, Marley mellowed, and sleeping became his favorite pastime. By the end, his hearing was shot, his teeth were gone, his hips so riddled with arthritis he barely could stand. Despite the infirmities, he greeted each day with the mischievous glee that was his hallmark. Just days before his death, I caught him with his head stuck in the garbage pail.

Life lessons learned.

A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours.

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.

When his time came last week, I knelt beside him on the floor of the animal hospital, rubbing his gray snout as the veterinarian discussed cremation with me. No, I told her, I would be taking him home with me.

The next morning, our family would stand over the hole I had dug and say goodbye. The kids would tuck drawings in beside him. My wife would speak for us all when she'd say: "God, I'm going to miss that big, dumb lug."

But now I had a few minutes with him before the doctor returned. I thought back over his 13 years — the destroyed furniture and goofy antics; the sloppy kisses and utter devotion. All in all, not a bad run.

I didn't want him to leave this world believing all his bad press. I rested my forehead against his and said: "Marley, you are a great dog."


[The Philadelphia Inquirer, 01/06/2004]

Source : http://br.geocities.com/anton_tijolinho/english/texts/farewell/

Please read the book!!! Now, if that did not convince you to get the book, please read on....

The following is taken from John Grogan's blog:

The heartwarming and unforgettable story of a family in the making and the
wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life

John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with a perfect little house and not a care in the world. Then they brought home Marley, a wiggly yellow furball of a puppy. Life would never be the same.

Marley quickly grew into a barreling, ninety-seven-pound streamroller of a Labrador retriever, a dog like no other. He crashed through screen doors, gouged through drywall, flung drool on guests, stole women's undergarments, and ate nearly everything he could get his mouth around, including couches and fine jewelry. Obedience school did no good—Marley was expelled. Neither did the tranquilizers the veterinarian prescribed for him with the admonishment, "Don't hesitate to use these."

And yet Marley's heart was pure. Just as he joyfully refused any limits on his behavior, his love and loyalty were boundless, too. Marley shared the couple's joy at their first pregnancy, and their heartbreak over the miscarriage. He was there when babies finally arrived and when the screams of a seventeen-year-old stabbing victim pierced the night. Marley shut down a public beach and managed to land a role in a feature-length movie, always winning hearts as he made a mess of things. Through it all, he remained steadfast, a model of devotion, even when his family was at its wit's end. Unconditional love, they would learn, comes in many forms.

Is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans.

Praise for Marley & Me

"...a very funny Valentine ... full of tail-thumping enthusiasm."
— Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"What Grogan beautifully conveys in this book is the way a dog works himself into the texture of our lives, to the point that - for better or for worse - we can no longer imagine the day dawning without him. ... I defy any reader - friend or foe of dogs - to remain dry-eyed as Grogan tells how he and his family watched an aging Marley falter and realized that this irreplaceable friend would soon be taking his exit." —The Christian Science Monitor

"A funny, touching tribute to [a] 97-pound Lab who was as loyal and loving as he was disobedient." —People

"Grogan's book reminds me of Yorkshire veterinarian James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small in the way that it gets at the heart of the animal-human bond, with humor and with pathos, in a deeply personal manner. Like Herriot, Grogan is a born storyteller." —The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Dog lovers will devour this hilarious, heartwarming story of a family and a family pet." —San Antonio Express-News

"A lively romp of a book... [Marley] showed others how to love fiercely and give freely, even as he barreled through life sniffing crotches and spewing drool. By digging deeper, you see that Marley's tale is really the story of a family in the making, with all the happiness and hurts that go with it." —The South Florida Sun-Sentinel

"Grogan tells a simple story of one family's life, a mostly typical family. But he does it so beautifully and the reader is drawn in by his voice until you become a part of his tale, shaking your head at Marley, laughing at his next indiscretion, delighting in his high points and worrying when things aren't going well. You'll understand the gift that Marley was to this family... Grogan has crafted a loving but unsentimental memory of his dog and what he meant to him, his wife and his children. And that's his gift to us." —The Birmingham News

"Marley & Me is an unvarnished look at the joys and tribulations of sharing your life with a dog. Grogan's account of his young family's first alfresco dining experience with Marley in tow had me laughing so hard I was afraid I'd wake the neighbors."—Asheville Citizen-Times

"As the owner of a 90-pound Bouvier who as a puppy routinely had me screaming on all fours in front of our entire obedience class, I laughed out loud reading John Grogan's hilarious description of his attempts to train his Lab Marley. As they say, No pain, no gain. Grogan's gain —and the reader's too —is Marley, a Hall of Fame dog if there ever was one." -- John Burnham Schwartz, author of Reservation Road and Claire Marvel

"Expect to laugh, cry and shake your head as you read this book … Marley is a great and memorable dog, and in the hands of a writer as observant, unsentimental and piercing as Grogan, this is a human-canine journey dog lovers will want to take." -- Jon Katz, bestselling author of A Dog Year and Dogs of Bedlam Farm

"Labrador retrievers are generally considered even-tempered, calm and reliable--and then there's Marley, the subject of this delightful tribute to one Lab who doesn't fit the mold. ... Grogan's chronicle of the...overly energetic but endearing dog is delivered with great humor. Dog lovers will love this account of Grogan's much loved canine." —Publisher's Weekly

"Grogan … offers a humorous and loving tribute to Marley (after Bob Marley), his late 100-pound yellow Labrador … Readers will delight in this tribute; recommended." —Library Journal


PLEASE READ THE BOOK, DEAR READER...AND LET YOUR KIDS READ IT TOO!!!