{Marley and Me}

by John GroganDefinitely a book for dog lovers. Although I don't own a dog, I love them. There is a lot to be learned from their never ending forgiveness, love and loyalty towards humans.

What I learned:
As he was stounding at the Flight 93 Monument in Pennsylvania once everyone had left: "I felt many different things. One of them was pride in my fellow Americans, ordinary people who rose to the moment, knowing it was their last. One was humility, for I was alive and untouched by the horrors of that day, free to continue my happy life as a husband and father and writer. In the lonely blackness, I could almost taste the finiteness of life and thus its preciousness. We take it for granted, but it is fragile, precarious, uncertain, able to cease at any instant without notice.... I felt something else, as well - an amazement at the boundless capacity of the human heart, at once big enough to absorb a tragedy of this magnitude yet still find room for the little moments of personal pain and heartache"... and I would like to add that there is still yet more room for the joys and love that life brings.

Vicariously through this author :"Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things - a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty."

I truly hope that someday we can own a dog.