Marley and Me
Sunday, February 12, 2006
The Gift of Snow
This morning, Gracie, our Labrador retriever, woke me early with a soft whimpering. The sun was not yet up, but she was -- and she needed to go out. I pulled on jeans and a sweatshirt and opened the garage door for her. She bounded out into the garage on her way outside with her usual crashing joy, but came to a screeching halt when she reached to outer garage door. A major snowstorm had rolled in overnight -- the first of the season -- leaving 14 inches of fluffy white stuff on the ground. She was not about to sink her paws into it. She looked back at me, then at the snow, then back at me again. It was as if she were saying, C'mon, I really need to go. Will you carry me?
"You're kidding me," I said aloud. "You're a Lab. Labs are supposed to be macho and studly and oblivious to cold. And you're telling me you don't want to get your tootsies wet?"
She looked up at me with those gold eyes of her. That's what she was telling me.
"Oh for goodness sakes," I grumbled. "Hold on."
I went inside, put on my coat, hat, gloves and boots. When I returned, Gracie acted like I'd been gone for months. He's back!I grabbed a shovel and began digging a path out from the garage for her. She waited patiently, inspecting my work and wagging her tail, which I took as an endorsement. Finally, she tiptoed out, sniffed cautiously and, apparently deciding this odd white stuff that she hadn't seen for the better part of a year was not going to hurt her, bounded off across the yard in the deep snow. Pretty soon she was racing and rolling and nose diving until she looked like a giant powdered doughnut. It reminded me of Marley's antics -- only not quite so animated -- back in his day. Dogs and snow....man, they sure go hand in hand.
I'm convinced that snow is a gift from the heavens, nature's way of saying to us pathetic, rat-race, can't-slow-down humans: "Hey, people, you need to give it a rest and take a deep breath and just relax. I'm sending a foot or two of the most beautiful powder you could ever imagine and it will force you to stay at home, sit tight, relax, if only for a day." And that's what I'm doing today, just drinking it in. Snowed in with a good book, a fire in the fireplace and a big yellow dog at my feet. There are worse ways to pass a Sunday.
Today gives me another reason to celebrate, and a big reason at that. Marley & Me officially goes to #1 on The New York Times hardcover nonfiction bestseller list today, its 16th straight week on the list. It is also #1 on the Wall Street Journal and Publisher's Weekly lists. If someone would have predicted this six months ago, I would have said no possible way. I would have said, Get real, it's a book about my family and our dog. And yet, here we are. I still can't quite believe it. My humble thanks to each and every one of you who helped make this happen.
posted by John Grogan at 7:45 AM
 
12 Comments:
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Congrats to a great book. I was walking thru the airport in Vegas after fleeing from my potential inlaws, when I spotted the title. I too have a 15 year old black lab named Marley. No one wanted him due to his antics and has been my faithful companion still to this day. Much sucess to you and your family. Karen and Marley
I just finished the book. What a wonderful book about life, love and commitment to our animal companions, in my case, they are my children. I too have a Marley, in the form of a black lab/terrier mix if you can imagine. The last time he had his teeth cleaned out came chewed up CD's, plastic milk jug caps, various pieces of socks, part of my new sheets, and a few of the cat's toys. All the staff at the vet's office know the sound of my voice on the phone and immediately say, bring him in. I anxiously await your new book.
Congratulations on making it to the #1 spot on the best sellers list! I read an article about the book a few weeks ago at the newspaper I work at and knew I had to pick up a copy. We too have some crazy pups - Tyler, a black lab and Benson, a golden retriever who thinks he's a lab. They both love the snow, but unfortunately for them, and their daddy (who loves to run the snow blower), we did not get as much snow on our side of the state as you. After buying the book, it took a while to read - Benson kept trying to help me. Again congratulations, we will be awaiting the movie!!
Your 2/12/06 post regarding Gracie's reluctance to venture out into the deep snow made me smile...maybe it's an Irish guy thing because I could've seen my Irish husband doing the very same with our Lab (or yes, even carrying her out!). I really enjoyed "Marley & Me"...what an excellently written book, and such a pleasure to read! Congratulations on the book's success...you deserve every bit of the accolades. I wanted to be a writer when I was a younger person but since having children, haven't had much time to do it. Your book has been an inspiration to me to follow my lifelong dream, even though I'm a parent. Thanks again for such a great book!!!
Congratulations on #1! I absolutely loved this book. I've got one chapter left, I was crying too hard to continue. I've got my own Marley, who we rescued from the pound when he was 4 months old, with a broken leg. He is the best dog that I've ever had. This book shadowed so much of my life with him so far. I must say when I bought the book it was solely for the title. I didn't actually expect it to be that good, but it definitely is and Thank you for writing a book like this, I always feel crazy for loving my dog so much.
I just finished your book, when I started it, I was four months into mourning my 15 year old dalmatian China (as crazy as labs if not more and I had three!!). My friend recommended your book to me because she knew how deeply China's death and the desitionaffected me. I was about halfway through it and one my remaining two dalmatians (two of China's litter of twelve) suffered a ruptured disk and is now almost completely paralized from the waist down. He is not responding to steriods, he is almost 13 and like Marley, I just don't know if he can take the surgery. I read the second half of your book this weekend as my husband and I waited and hoped for the steroids to reduce any swelling and for him to be able to walk. Your book hit so close to home for me not only for my struggle with China's death because of arthritis and failing health but then for my Vanilla who I am afraid I am going to have to make that horrible decision again.
I forgot to thank you for such a heart warming and wonderful book. I love all of my animals just as though they were my children. Your book is helping me through this difficult time. You deserve the #1 spot!
Hey you must live around me somewhere i too had 14 inches of snow on Sunday. Had to shovel a path for 3 springers ,Heaven forbid. They thought the snow eas fun and we had quite a time getting the snowballs off their ears once they decided the stuff was actually okay,Crazzzzy dogs
You must live somewhere close to me in Pa. I had 14 inches of snow. My 3 springers after deciding that the snow wasn't from another planet had a ball or should I they turned into Giant Snowballs. Well it's one way to get them to take a bath. Love the book took me all of a day to read. You have a camera in my house somewere? I could swear it lol
A+++++what a wonderful journey! I am the proud owner of two labs a yellow-Daisy and chocolate-Diego and both have the same characteristics as Marley!! I bought and read this book in two days. The end though inevidable was extremely touching and thouogh my two are both young I dread the end with them what true companions dogs are!
John I'm sorry I missed you here in Ann Arbor. I have told everyone who will listen that I am quite upset we missed our chance of meeting you. My 10-year-old son and I just finished your book and are re-reading it at my son's request. I had a very beautiful female yellow/white lab named Tawny who lived to 12 and after seven days (my husband said he hardly had time to eat a meal without a white lab face staring at him) we found another beautiful female lab/white who looked so much like our first I had to have her - I remember sending her picture via email to my husband at work - my son named her Angel as she leaped through our yard (flying over the fence and back) like a wild deer. So, so many stories. Our backyard is backed up to a bank and one day out in the yard Angel was laying under one of our three beware of dog signs looking as innocent as could be - a young nice-looking fella stopped his car asking how could this be possible - this innocent, beautiful lab....after reading your book, it was the first time I have not felt alone with our troubled lab. The red flag was up with the rescuer who brought her up from Ohio to Michigan told me "she's kind of growly." We never gave up on her either even though some people thought she was untrainable. We have a built in track in our backyard from her spaz runs. She could climb our fence out and then back in - as I searched the same website where we found her later (she had had a litter of one-week-old puppies taken away from her before she came to us - there I saw a beautiful white lab puppy - wild looking and climbing a fence - it had to be one of her pups I thought.
I look forward to the movie and any future books by you - Marley is paying you back for never giving up on him.
I am a Suzuki guitar instructor here in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I am also on my second lab - first was calm - Tawny (lived to age 12), second is not - Angel (my son named her). I noticed my wild dog would immediately curl up and fall asleep when I practiced my classical/suzuki guitar pieces. SO I got this great idea last November to call the Humane Society and see if my students and I could perform for the animals there. We arrived after the facility had shut its doors to the public. We were led to the bad dog wing where the public was not allowed in. I was placed next to a 120 pound Mastiff called Harley -my students and I were lined up in a straight line with dogs on both sides of us - it was a full capacity night - As we began performing, the barking ceased and the "bad dogs" curled up in there above ground beds. When I saw Harley - all 120 pounds of him - curl up, I cried. My soul was touched so deeply. We are due back in April.