Sneak Attack

Monday, July 07, 2008
I don't read 'dog stories' anymore. I don't want to read about a dog's death at 2, or 20-I don't want to know that everytime you read the book-the dog always dies, I prefer my characters living at the end of a good book! But...I just accidently read one (it was a gift from someone). Let me start with-it was a beautiful book, and it was so well written, but my throat hurts so bad right now from all the tears. By about page three I realized this lady was writing about the lessons her dog taught her-I know past tense writing when I see it!That's all it takes for the waterworks-even KNOWING a dog is going to die in a books starts me crying. One of my favorite little frivilous blessings to thank God for, is the companionship of my two dogs. So now, I'm going to go and squeeze my dogs necks until they refuse to sit still anymore, but I am posting my three favorite things the author said about dogs, I love it when someone else says the words I wanted to say, but have never been able to string together. So, a few of my favorite quotes that Anna Quindlen was able to put on paper in Good Dog. Stay
"Human beings wind up having the relationship with dogs that they fooled themselves they will have with other people. When we are young, it is our significant other, when we are older, it is the symbiosis we manage to fool ourselves we will always have with our children. Love unconditional, attention unwavering, companionship without question or criticism."
"For children, the point of having a dog is something like the point of having a mother and father. Our job is not to do but to be, not to act but to exist. We are bedrock, scenery, landscape, to be often ignored and then clung to during difficult or frightening or, occasionally, happy times. My mom, my dad, my dog, my home, immutable, to leave and then to return to at will and leave again."
...and my favorite....
"But the life of a dog is not much of a mystery, really. With few exceptions, he will be who he has always been. His routine will be unvarying and his pleasures will be predictable-a pond, a squirrel, a bone, a nap in the sun. It sounds so boring, and yet it is one of the things that make dogs so important to people. In a world that seems so uncertain, in lives that seem sometimes to ricochet from challenge to upheaval and back again, a dog can be counted on in a way that's true of little else."

4 comments

Msheepers said...

I don't usually like the "Chicken Soup for the _______ Soul" books either because you see a lot of the same thing. A lot of great pet stories but also remembering pets who've passed away.

What I've always wanted to know if is our pets will be joining us in Heaven. I mean, if they give us so much joy and love here on earth, why not, right? I would hate to think that they only exist on earth... Wish the Bible addressed that question.

Thomas Family said...

I love the words!

Christy said...

As a girl (and an adult) my Mom always told me that heaven is a happy place, and that she can't imagine heaven without dogs. In my mind-I imagine my critters there, but ultimately I understand if they are not there, I know I will see their purpose in my time on earth, and I won't continue to miss them in heaven. My hope is still that they will each great me with their quirks and personalities in full bloom!

Regan said...

Oh my goodness, I am so happy I've read that. You are my soul-mate in so many ways, and this is just one of the many. I've got tears in my eyes just THINKING about a book where the dog dies, and Odie is lying across my legs right now, snoring..they can say so much, without making a single sound.