"Gracie and me": the book and film that will never be

I'm not usually a fan of oversentimentalized biopics, but Cherie insisted that we go see "Marley and me". Its the film adaptation of the book by the same name authored by journalist John Groghan. My wife read the book. I didn't. We have our own yellow labrador with her own idosyncresies. I don't feel the need to read about someone else's. But the book was well received and I had heard good things about his writing. Witty. Charming. Like a columnist for a major newspaper. He is a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
So we went on New Years day. Left the boys at Grammie and PapPap's, headed off to MoviE town for the matinee. Very few people there. Thought that more people would be out on New Year's day catching one of the many decent new releases in the theatres right now. I want to see "Frost/Nixon" about the 1978 interview of former President Nixon by UK reporter David Frost. Nixon was seeking vindication and redemption for Watergate. Frost was seeking a confession of criminality. I also would like to see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," adapted from an F. Scot Fitzgerald short story, about a man who lives life in reverse. Born elderly he grows younger every year. I'd like to see Seven Pounds starring Will Smith, though I know very little about the film. I've rarely disliked a film in which he has acted. Clint Eastwood has an oscar worthy film out, as does Tom Cruise. Sometimes I'd like to be a film critic for a local paper because I enjoy many different kinds of stories told on screen.
But now to "Marley and Me." I laughed through most of the film. I cried for the last twenty minutes. The story is actually good. Young journalist couple get a dog to try out the nurturing genes. Marley is a male lab. He eats everything. He runs everywhere. He breaks things. He's untrainable. Marley trains them. Interestingly, Marley's behavior is not the center of the plot, like some Disney farce. This is not "Turner and Hooch"or "Beethoven: The Big pain in the neck". This is the story of a man and his wife, his career, his family, and his dog. And it is true. Not so much in its historical truth, although the film follows the book closer than many films based on books do. It is true because it is the story of life as a man with a wife and a career and three kids and a yellow lab. It is the story of his own failures, his own unfulfilled longings, and the surprising ways in which life gives more than we deserve.
I found myself drawn in, because so much of that story is my story too. (Jen Aniston, who plays his wife Jenny in the film, has nothing on my Cherie...smarter, sexier, real-er--is that a word?). I have felt his angst. I have sat in the car in my driveway wondering what the hell I'm doing. I've wondered if I've made the right choices. I have regretted the way I have handled relationships, my career.
And then there is the dog. I could write a book about Gracie May, the lab we love. I could write a chapter on staring. And a chapter on eating things. And a chapter on sleeping. I could write a book about the messes she's made and I've cleaned up. And I could write about her eagerness to be near us.
Gracie has an inoperable lump on her right shoulder that is beginning to impede her ability to walk comfortably. Inevitably we will have a choice about Gracie. As the Groghan's do in their story. Watching the kids and his wife say goodbye to Marley is a forecast of our future with Gracie,a future we typically deny and certainly despise. The death of a beloved pet is no small thing. And "marley and me" tells the tale with a simple beauty and affection that is honest and infectious.
But I am no movie reviewer or film critic. I am no journalist. But I am a storyteller. I write to share a little of the beauty and affection of life with my family,especially with my dog. She is a great dog, despite her often grouchy parents. I am only a husband, a father, and the lover of my own yellow lab. I love takng her for walks. I love watching her sleep. I love the way her fur smells. These are the unforgettable things about your dog. But more than anything else is the truth of the kind of love and affection we receive from her. She is devoted to us like no human can ever be. Its an undeserved devotion. I wonder if God sees our worship of Him as a kind of devotion likened to that of a pet yellow lab.
By the way, John Groghan and his wife and three kids live in eastern PA with their dog Gracie!