Dog's Life

Just finished reading “The Art of Racing in the Rain” and I have been treating my dog differently ever since I put it down. The book follows a car racer, Denny, through the eyes of his faithful dog, Enzo. Enzo has great insights to everything that happens in Denny’s complicated life. He smells sickness, senses tension, and feels trouble when it comes along.

Enzo repeatedly tells the reader that man manifests his own destiny. He sees people choose the path they will take. Enzo often compares life’s challenges to the challenges of driving in a race. Take the first corner slowly, racers often loose in the first turn but they never win then. Enzo also believes that he will come back as a human, and spends his days learning how to be a good person.

I have always secretly wondered if my dog, Baxter, can understand what is going on around him. Sometimes I look into his eyes and it seems like there is a sweetness and kindness deep down inside him. Other times he is running around barking like a crazy dog and I’m not so sure. Anyways, it is nice to have him around, and maybe someday he will help out our family in some small way. Just in case, I am going to appreciate and talk to him a little more often now. And if he comes back as a human, he is someone I would really like to know..

Freedom

the best book i have read in a while reminds me that people are people and when someone captures the thoughts and feelings of a character well, we can't help but fall in love with the most unlikely of folks. "Freedom" by Jonathan Krazen follows the lives of 3 very different people over the period of a lifetime. in these lives they have disappointment, heartbreak, and in the end understanding. it is a great gift to be able figure out where you went wrong and to try to fix it. Frazen gives his characters this gift, almost too late.

the simplicity and depth of these characters leads the reader to moments of pause and tears. Frazen asks the reader to question this idea of Freedom. in many cases the characters are hurt by their unending freedom to choose the wrong path, or freedom to do nothing at all. makes us all analyze our choices with the freedom we have been given, and the mistakes we have made along the way.

assumptions

3 active boys were running all over the train. they were throwing balls to each other and yelling and jumping everywhere.

the other passengers were clearly getting aggravated. eyes were rolling, sighs were getting louder and louder.

the boys were traveling with there father that day. he sat motionless, oblivious to all of the chaos they were causing. people were getting furious.

they started looking at one another, trying to urge someone to approach the father. the boys began running into people and spilling women's bags.

this man is the worst father they all had ever seen. surely he could at least say something to these boys.

finally a man approached the father.

"Sorry to bother you, but your children are a bit out of control," the man said.

the father looked at this stranger teary eyed and replied. "Their mother just died this morning, and I don't have it in me to yell at them."