Wanna get your heart ripped out of your chest and stomped on right there in the middle of your living room? See the movie, Marley and Me. Over the weekend, my granddaughters, (ages 8 and 5), my wife and I sat on the couch and watched this thing from beginning to end.

In fact, it is an excellent flick. Owen Wilson is exceptional in it, Jennifer Aniston is…well…Jennifer Aniston, and the five or six yellow Labradors that play Marley at different stages of life are the most adorable critters this side of Pluto.

Now, all through the movie, Marley is being a rambunctious, high-energy pooch who gets himself into more trouble than a liberal, tree-hugging, socialist-minded Obama supporter at the Republican National Convention. He rips up furniture, crashes through screen doors, gets booted out of obedience classes and takes a huge dump on a public beach. And yet, the critter is lovable. He licks faces, wags his tail, bounds happily through houses and yards with humans in hot pursuit, and never, EVER bares his teeth, growls or bites. He’s just one, big, lovable, floppy, high-energy, incorrigible mutt that is almost impossible to stay angry at.

The film does a great job showing how a dog incorporates himself into our lives and our memories – how he enriches our existence, and how it is impossible to divorce him from our remembrances of who we were at different points in time.

And, of course, at the end, Marley dies, and the family is left to cope with life afterwards.

One poignant scene towards the conclusion of the film has the family gathered around Marley’s open grave in the backyard. The entire family is there, all giving their little, prepared eulogies. The youngest boy ends his speech by referring to himself as Marley’s brother. The oldest boy refuses to speak his thoughts when prompted by his parents. He just buries his chin into his chest, squeezes his eyes shut and mumbles, “I don’t have to say anything. Marley knows.”

I was just bawling my eyes out by this point. I was sobbing so hard that I thought I was going to suck my lower lip up through my nostrils. Mary Ellen, who was sitting at the other end of the sofa, was a mess too. The two grandkids? They were looking up at us, dry-eyed, their faces filled with bemused wonder.

If you love dogs, see this film. If you’ve ever had to suffer through the anguish of putting a beloved friend “to sleep”, see this film. If you’ve ever had “the worst dog in the world” but, at the end of his/her life, he/she miraculously morphed into the best dog in the universe, see this film.

What is it about tear-jerkers like this one that I like so much? I think they remind me that I am human with deep human emotions. And the best medium for releasing these emotions is . . . dogs.

Dogs are innocents. They are clumsy, furry bundles of love, devotion and loyalty that add so much joy to our lives that no matter how “bad” they are, we always find ways to forgive them.

(I mean, my German Shepherd, Dixie, can take a crap on the living room rug in the morning, and I’ll scream at her and get angry at her. Then, at the end of the work day when I pull in the driveway, she’s there to greet me with as much unbridled joy and love as you can imagine…and all is forgiven.)

Dogs are special.

Now, don’t get me wrong; I love cats too…just not as much. Dogs will give their lives for you. They will love you and defend you to their last breaths, no matter how badly you treat them, and I love them for that.

Cats, on the other hand…well…Never trust anything that shits in a box.

When this movie ended, I felt like I had been put through the wringer. I was drained. My eyes were red and swollen. I was exhausted. …And I was ready to watch the freaking thing all over again.

I think I liked it so much because it left me differently than it found me. When reminded of all the losses that I have experienced in my life, I realize how many things and people I love in my life today. It makes me not take so much for granted.

When I put my grandchildren to sleep after the movie, I hugged them hard, kissed them, tucked them in, and let them know that I love them SSSSOOOOO VERY MUCH! I also kissed and hugged my wife, and told her that I loved her more than anything else in the world. And then I grabbed Dixie and hugged her so hard that she squirmed a little. Then she licked my face as if to say, “It’s okay, Dad! I’m right here right now, and I love you!”

That’s what this movie did for me. It rekindled my awareness of what is important in my life, and how fleeting our time here is. It reminded me that I should take every opportunity to show those that I love just how much I love them, because there will come a time, ultimately, when I will have to say good-bye to each and every one of them.

As the great John Lennon once wrote to his son in the song, Beautiful Boy, “When you cross the street/Hold my hand/Life is what happens to you/When you’re busy making other plans.”

Ain’t it the truth?

See this movie, and then hug your dog and all of those who are dear to you and make your life worth living.