Celebrating A Legend

Shreveport, La - Donna and I made the mistake of watching Marley and Me several days ago. My objective assesment, after seeing it, is that it's possibly the worst movie ever made. I mean, it's REALLY bad. Sure it has a great story, and good acting, and characters that you care about, and conflict, and perseverance, and an overwhelming message of hope about life. I mean, SURE it has all those things. And yes of course the book was a New York Times bestseller, and the movie made million of dollars. I mean, SURE it was widely acclaimed as a GREAT movie, and all the critics agreed it was a great movie. But from where I stand, it was an absolutely awful movie.

(SPOILER ALERT!) Why is it such an awful, pathetic, excuse for a movie? You get to watch the unbelievably bad dog Marley grow from a energetic young puppy to an old, dying dog, who in the last scene of the movie dies a slow agonizing death which left a reported 99.2 % of audience members sobbing like babies or funeral goers when the movie was over. (I overheard one woman who saw the movie say it made you want to "run home and hug your dog." )

I on the other hand, had the wherewithal to leave the room the first time Marley had trouble walking up a set of stairs. Then I had the pleasure of checking my email while listening to Donna sob uncontrollably in the next room.

One good thing did come of watching that awful, awful movie. We felt so guilted, or whatever that emotion is after you see the movie, that we took my dogs for a walk at two in the morning. (We had to wake them up to do so.)

The next day, with the grief and sorrow of Marley and Me still lingering in the air, we decided it would be a great day to celebrate my dog Girl's birthday. I don't know exactly what day she was born, but I do know it was in the summer of 1995. So we piled into my truck and drove out to Wallace Lake for a little celebration. I think the pictures tell the story. A cake made of canned dogfood followed by a dessert of dog ice cream. (Yes, they actually make dog ice cream.)

Those of you who know Girl know how she has been the benefactor of miracles no less than four different occasions, the least of which was surviving a gunshot wound. That's exactly why we celebrated her birthday - the celebration of a truly improbable life. Without question, if she one day actually dies of old age like Marley, that in itself might be the biggest miracle of all.

Happy Birthday, Girl.