"Marley and Me"

Oh my GOD. Why does this movie not come with some sort of disclaimer that warns you about the emotional repercussions that come with it?

We rented it thinking it was a comedy, but Jennifer Aniston's obvious new nose job aside, it was far from a comedy. A movie where the family dog gets put down at the end does not a comedy make in my book.

I mean, the movie itself for the most part was FUNNY- new puppy and dog shananigans are FUNNY...leg humping and dog running crazy destroying things is FUNNY- but the underlying theme and message mostly just messed with my head. For like three or four days now. Going on five. Possibly for forever. I've watched it 3 times now and I'm delaying returning it to Blockbuster.

The whole, young couple adopting a puppy as a trial run into parent, flash forward 2 year montage of life with dog as young married couple ( I love a good montage), young couple trying to have a baby, young couple has baby and dog who was once family baby becomes baby's buddy, family grows and dog as permanent lovable significant fixture and family member in household grows older until dog who was once puppy becomes senior dog...and then...that most awful gut wrenching inevitable sad ending to any pet story.

It had me in tears by the time it was over. My heart seriously broke. It reminded me of reading "Where the Red Fern Grows" and that book traumatized me as a kid. It really did, and I never even got to have a dog growing up. My parents weren't patient enough for dogs. I had fish and hamsters until I pestered them enough to get me a cat. And even then. Every hamster that died shook the very foundation of my childhood if that says anything.

When the credits to "Marley and Me" started rolling, Taylor pointed out the tear stains on the couch pillow where I was laying, and I noticed the tear stains on the shoulder of his t-shirt.

~tear~

We laughed at our blubbering selves. Then we both made a beeline for Gretchen, who was sprawled out on the floor by the couch. We proceeded to gush love and affection all over her, and she wasn't sure what she had done to get bombarded with the flood of attention, but she sure ate it up.

I had no idea that an Owen Wilson/Jennifer Aniston movie had the ability to make me reflect on my life with Taylor, our family- present and future- and our pets...namely Gretchen. The movie got to me on so many levels.

We let Gretchen on the bed last night for the first time since Jude was born after watching it. It made me realize that by the time Gretchen is 14 or 15 years old, we will be around 40. 40!

She was our trial run with parenthood- no dog will ever be that in our life again. That's so special. "Marley and Me" totally reminded me that even though I have a baby now, Gretchen is and will always be my little BFF Doggerson companion.

~sniff sniff~