Molly and Me

Last week, Katie, Timmy, Lily and Tim and I watched "Marley and Me," the movie out last year about a family and their out of control lab who, after turning their lives upside down, ends up breaking everybody's heart at the end by dying, basically of old age.  (Go figure.)  Anyhow, I have been wanting to rent it for some time...as in a few weeks, to see if my reaction to the movie has changed any since I saw it in the theatres last fall....back when I didn't own a dog....back before I'd even realized that I was about to own a dog.  Because, I have to tell you, and I know by saying this that I am causing some avid born-that-way dog lovers to shake their heads in disbelief, but my reaction in the theatre was completely lacking in canine compassion!  I sat watching the movie for the first time thinking, "Why would anybody WANT that?  Why would they choose to put themselves through that...and like it even?"  When the dog would chew the floor or destroy the blinds, instead of laughing bemusedly like the others around me in the theatre, I felt my blood pressure rise and my stress level go  up, and I honestly found myself wishing the movie were over!  Enough already!

So....you are wondering.... 1. Why did the Lindquist's get a dog???...but that's not what this blog post is about.  Sorry.  Another time, perhaps.  Perhaps not.

2.  )How did it go watching "Marley and Me" the SECOND time around?  Was her reaction different now that she OWNS a little pooch?  Has she changed at all?

The answer to number two is...: Nope.  Nada.  Not one iota of difference in my emotional reaction.

OH, I DID GET EMOTIONAL during the movie.  I got emotional at exactly the same point in BOTH viewings of the movie.  It wasn't when the dog dies, or when the little boy (Patrick) stands over the grave or even when Jenny says "Goodbye Clearance Puppy." (you have to see the movie to understand...)

I cried when the mom (Jenny), who is overwhelmed with two babies and the dog,  looks at her husband  and says (my paraphrase), "It's just that I've given up so much of who I was...of what made me me.  I know it was my choice, but sometimes I'm not happy and I know that makes me a bad person to feel that way, but I do."  I cried.  Good stuff.

Oh...but my reaction was nothing compared to Lily's.  As soon as she got a whiff that Marley was getting old, she asked if he was going to die.  I said yes.  She wailed for the last 20 minutes of the movie, then all the way up to bed and was still doing dry sobs 30 minutes later.  She didn't get it from me, I tell ya.

So Molly and Me....don't worry; we are doing alright.  I like her, most of the time.  And since I feed her, she adores me.  I'm ok with that.