Marley and...Us

As our furry, fifth member of the family rests soundly sleeping at my feet, it dawned on me...I've never formally introduced Marley to the blogging world.

Meet Marely.
We adopted Marley in November of 2004.

Q's mom knew a lady from work who had a puppy she just couldn't keep up with, Sonney. His next stop was the pound. When we heard about Sonney, Q insisted that we had to just "go see him." Sure. So, after we met Sonney, we went out to dinner, to a brewery none-the-less, and had a heart to heart about Sonney. I admit, I cried over my beer. How could we not take him into our home? He was on his way to the pound, and he'd already been in three different homes.

Q was all in. As we drove away from dinner, we renamed Sonney, to Marley.

It's kind of a silly story, but our song from our honeymoon in the Caribbean, was a Bob Marley song, and as we were listening to "our song" it hit us, Sonney, would be Marley to us.

We picked him up the next day.

When we brought Marley home, he was about 6 months old and about 45 pounds - a great, average size, black lab - Australian Sheppard mix.

I like to think, from this picture, he was happy to have us too.

And so Marley became a part of our family. Not being a "dog girl" it was a bit of a transition for me, and I was a little scared about what I'd agreed to. Q on the other hand, was ready!

Marley was a bit, um, well, yes, OUT OF CONTROL, when we brought him home. While he had the basics down (like no potty in the house) his manners were off the charts terrible. He barked at people, jumped on you, dug holes in the yard, ran through just about anyone and anything if he was excited, chewed a few favorite shoes of mine...it wasn't pure bliss...not even close.

Q got busy being the "alpha dog" and the Wilson School of Dog began.

Between the two of them, they worked it out (over about 2 years worth of time) and Marley emerged into our good dog, that everyone soon began to love.

We loved him so much, he joined us in our Christmas picture
(notice the prego-belly, that's Elsie!)

And then the kiddos arrived. I admit, I was more than nervous how our bear-like doggy would handle babies. Marley was amazing with Elsie. From the moment she arrived home, he protected her. He was always close by, but never too close, and when she was ready to crawl and pull herself up, look who offered her a hand.
Then, they really got to know each other, and they'd just chill...on the floor...Elsie would feed Marley her treats and the two were happy as could be.



He's part horsey.



And he loves, loves loves to be in a group picture.

Q, Elsie and Marley on Fathers Day.

When Brynn arrived, Marley maintained his awesomeness, and again, kept close and protected his girls.

Marley really is a special part of our family.
I've never read the book, nor seen the movie Marley and Me because I'm afraid the story would tear me in two. From what I've heard, the story is almost verbatim, ours. The whole name coincidence doesn't help either!

Our girls love Marley and Marley loves them. He protects us, and loves us unconditionally. He's a great reminder of what it means to be faithful, loyal and a best friend. Really, he's all of those things, 100% of the time.

Sure, I might grumble at the fur he leaves around the house and occasionally he is stinky, and you wont find me lying on the floor cuddling him; but I wouldn't trade him for the world, and I can't imagine our family without him. Our 98 pound, big black bear of a dog, is the best.

Awe, Marley!