I watched Marley and Me last night. 
It was Monday, and you know you can get one or more free movies from Redbox on Mondays, so when I ran through WalMart to buy fingernail polish remover, I picked up two movies. Hubby’s out of town, so I watched it alone after the kids went to bed.
Cute Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson and a cute puppy! It’s a happy movie, right? Yes, it IS a happy movie about a family’s journey and a dog. But then we get to the end, where that dog is getting old and feeble, and the family realizes that the dog is going to die. I was crying–no, Sobbing. Really. Sobbing. I was SO glad I saw that movie alone at home and not in a movie theater! As I reached for another Kleenex, I laughed at myself for crying so much over a movie about a dog. But, really, what did I think was going to happen? I can’t even watch Where the Red Fern Grows anymore. Even if I am flipping channels and see that it’s on (like it was the other night), the tears start to well up just when I realize which movie it it. And I don’t even have a dog! I did let my kids watch Where the Red Fern Grows, but I wouldn’t watch it with them. I know my limits.
But the love of pets is universal, isn’t it? We’ve had our lovable little bird since before Cole joined our family. At the end of the movie, when Jennifer Aniston says something about how they got Marley to prepare for a family, but they didn’t realize that when they got Marley they already were a family. That just made me bawl even more! Pets are wonderful additions to a family, but when a pet dies, it really is traumatic. The other day I couldn’t find our beloved old bird (he had flown off somewhere and wasn’t responding to our whistling) and I started to panic. He couldn’t be gone, could he? We found him, and he’s still there, but he’s not going to live forever.
I remember when I was on my mission, and I asked my parents about our dog, Butch. How’s Butch? I wrote in a letter, and I noticed I didn’t get a response to my question. Later, when I asked about it again, they told me that Butch had died. There I was, off in a foreign country, sobbing about my dog, who had been gone for quite some time.
Yes, pets are an important part of a family, and we love them, and we grieve for them when they are gone. Even if it’s just a movie.
I even blubbered through the end of the book. We have a dog, but no one except Ben really loves her very much. In fact, Tucker took the kids to see our friend’s new puppies yesterday, and Tucker didn’t even want to go in the house to see them, he cared so little. Tough bunch I’ve got!
I miss Butch. I was only about 4 months old when he was born, so when he died, it was like a part of me died too–we had grown up together.