Marley and Me, and life with a dog and baby

So, this month JP and I are taking a fast from most electronic media. We're not going on Facebook (well, I'm not - he doesn't have one), reading blogs, news websites, watching TV or movies, playing games on the iPhone (that would be him - I'm the one without the iPhone), etc. This is largely due to a conviction I've had for a long time: we spend way too much time WASTING time doing these things. I also recently read 7 by Jen Hatmaker which was a fantastic book, and helped inspire the fast. Anyhow, electronic media that doesn't count includes:

-email/gchat

-ordering

-blogging

The point of the fast is to fill our time with more edifying, life-giving activities instead of wasting it. We want to be purposeful with our time. We're praying that after a month of media-fasting we'll know what should come back (and in what quantity) and what can stay gone.

Anyhow, that's a tangent and the media fast isn't even what this post is about. I just wanted to clarify that the reason blogging (ie. writing posts) stayed on the list is because writing is often how I process. I'm able to think through things more when I write about them. So, on to the topic of this post: Ollie.

I'm not a natural animal lover. I don't have a burning desire to run up and pet every dog I see on the street. Really, I don't think I've ever had a desire to pet ANY dog I've seen on the street. Ever. (Ok, maybe a puppy once or twice, but it's a rarity). And don't even get me started on cats. I'm not a fan. I really just don't understand wanting an animal that requires a poop box, it's never made too much sense to me. (To each his own - I recognize that some people feel this way about dogs - they don't want an animal they have to take out in the cold/rain/morning/noon/night, etc.).

Well, not too long after JP and I got married I decided I wanted a dog. An inside one. This surprised my parents, who had never had inside pets in my life, and I think it surprised JP. It definitely surprised me. I'm not quite sure where this desire for a dog came from. My theory is that it was my biological clock longing to care for something but us not being ready for a baby.

Anyhow, we were in an apartment that didn't allow dogs, so it didn't happen. Until we bought our house. Then, JP agreed to go to the SPCA with me one Saturday "just to look" and suddenly, we were dog owners. "We're just looking. We're not coming home with a dog" were his famous last words. Our car turned into Avon Park with a crate, bowl, leash, dog food and a new 75lb member of the Mays family.

I was smitten. I LOVED this creature so much. I promptly decided that we needed to watch dog movies. Like, every one ever made. We didn't get to all of them, but we did watch several, and Marley and Me was my favorite. I laughed, I cried, and wondered how in the world they handled Marley, and why they didn't send that dog back where she came from.

Well, I've recently wondered about doing the same with Ollie. Sending him RIGHT BACK WHERE HE CAME FROM.

Ollie was a great dog. Sure, he ate a sock every once in a while, but no real harm done. Until Eli was born. Now, he's driving me nuts. True, he's a little bit neglected. He doesn't get quite the amount of attention he used to. But he's acting out in ridiculous proportions.

In the past two weeks he has:

- woken Eli up (barking at any and everything) several times after I FINALLY got him down for a nap

- shredded a dirty diaper

- pulled out the contents of the bathroom trash

-pulled me and Eli all over the place on walks

-eaten 3 of Eli's finger puppets

and today, he put holes in my comforter on the bed. Like, in the comforter that we JUST put on it yesterday.

I was/am SO mad. I immediately thought of Marley and wondered why they liked that dog and why I ever liked that movie. What's to like about a dog that drives you crazy and makes a mess of everything? Like the frustrated Jennifer Anniston, I've threatened to get rid of the dog....

However, we're not getting rid of Ollie, and, after a bit of thinking, I realized why I loved Marley and Me. It's such a good picture of a great, messy life. Life doesn't go according to the plan Jennifer (what is her character's name again?) makes when she gets married. It's crazy and messy and hectic. But it's beautiful. It's their life and though it won't fit in a neat little package, it's better for the bumps and swerves along the road.

It's the frustrating, chaotic, wild adventures of Marley that make for the great column that John Grogan writes and that become sweet, hilarious memories later on. Life isn't supposed to be neatly packaged or go according to plan and dogs don't behave perfectly all the time.

SO - we'll let Ollie hang around. Eli will LOVE playing with him when he gets older, and one day we will look back on these crazy days and laugh or smile. One day. NOT today.