Monday, July 20, 2009

Marley and Mea



Last night we layed low, ate homemade matzo ball soup and watched Marley and Me…

Kind of cheesy and although I promised myself I wouldn’t cry – by the end I was wiping tears from my eyes while trying to hide them from Curtis – who was, by that point, laughing at the over-the-top drama of the scene where Marley was being put to sleep. A little dramatic - yes, but so sad...i blame it on PMS.

I just kept thinking of what I will do when Mea eventually dies. I mean, it probably won’t be for a very long time, seeing as she is not even three years old yet, but doggy death is inevitable, and that will be a sad, sad day.

The kicker in the movie for me was when jennifer aniston’s character put her necklace in the dog’s grave and said that they’re family started even before the kids were ever born, that it started when they got marley.

That's when the tears started welling up...

Although we don’t have kids yet, I really feel like our family started the day we picked out Mea.

I remember the day so clearly.

Curtis came home the night before, and told me that he had tried to go pick out a puppy for me for my birthday that afternoon, but he just knew I needed to be there with him.

I responded, “Are you crazy! We can’t have a dog! No no no! I know I said I wanted a dog, but I lied, we can’t handle it. No.”

Then minutes later I took it all back – “Are you serious? Were you really going to try to buy me a puppy? Of course I want one, I’ve always wanted one! Are you really serious?”

So we did our research and found a breeder a couple hours away that had two litters of baby bishons, nearly ready to be adopted. We made arrangements to go see them the next morning, with every intention of returning home empty-handed.

When we got there, I think we both knew we would be leaving with a puppy. The house was clean, and the puppies were well organized, healthy and adorable. We sat on the carpet as puppies came bouncing over to us in all directions. It was something out of a movie…like Marley and Me, except with tiny little white balls of fury bishon goodness.

They were young – only seven weeks and still so little. The runt of the litter seemed to like me and kept falling over my outstretched legs and feet, biting my jeans and licking my ankles. That was her. I just knew it.

The breeder allowed us to take her a week early, and after we wrote the check, we got in the car somewhat in a state of shock of how quickly our new addition had been added to our family.

Curtis drove home, as I sat beside him, puppy asleep in a blanket on my lap. We brainstormed names…and finally landed on two strong options. Mojito or Mea. We had just watched aWoody Allen and Mia Farrow movie the night before.

We decided against Mojito, thinking it might make us sound like alcoholics. We looked at each other, than at the sleeping puppy and said, “Mea.” And that was it. It was decided. I wanted to spell it differently, so no one could mix it up with Maya – so MEA it was.

Halfway through the drive home we stopped at a Wendy’s in nowhere’sville. We parked by a window, layed the sleeping dog in the back seat and went in to grab a quick lunch. At that moment our puppy-parental instincts must've kicked in because we both felt the need to eat with our eyes glued to the car, watching for any sign that she was awake or aware that we left her alone. (she wasn’t).

We then packed back up and made our way home...to begin the story of the three of us.

That is the story of Marley and Mea.

1 comments:

Walking in the rain said...

what a great story! i'm such a bad dog owner...i have no sentiment when i comes to tessi...it's horrible, i know! maybe i won't cry at the movie then :)

 
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