Ann Patchett Tells Dog-Love Like It Is
September 5, 2012 § 17 Comments
This is just a quick post to say, go buy the latest issue of Vogue. It looks like this:
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Why should I buy a magazine with a picture of Lady Gaga dressed as an electrified disco mermaid on the cover?
That is a fair question.
Here’s why: Because I can’t find a link to share with you any other way Ann Patchett’s fantastic essay, “The Sense of An Ending.” Dog people (of which I am one) will appreciate her remembrances of her pooch, Rose. (Maybe even cat people? I don’t know. That’s hard for me to say, because cats make me wheeze until I can’t say anything at all.) Just-plain-people will enjoy it for Patchett’s astute observations about pet and human relationships in general.
“I came to realize… that there was between me and every person I had ever loved some element of separation, and I had never seen it until now. There had been long periods spent apart from the different people I loved, due to nothing more than circumstances. There had been arguments and disappointments, for the most part small and easily reconciled, but over time people break apart, no matter how enormous the love they feel for one another is, and it is through the breaking and the reconciliation, the love and the doubting of love, the judgment and then the coming together again, that we find our own identity and define our relationships.
Except that I had never broken from Rose. I had never judged her or wanted her to be different, never wished myself free from her for a single day.”
See?
Note: If you’ve experienced the loss of your dog very recently, you may especially love it, but you might need to tuck it away to read later, not right now. Or maybe you’re tough enough to read lines like this without sniffling at your desk:
“Sometimes love does not have the most honorable beginnings, and the endings, the endings will break you in half. It’s everything in between we live for.”
Anyway, buy the magazine. It’s worth the $5.99 for that essay.
Author Ann Patchett with Rose
PS: The essay is Rose’s second appearance in Vogue. The first time, when she was but a pup, was in “This Dog’s Life,” which you can read in its entirety here.
This issue is sitting on my coffee table and I’ve yet to open it, but now I’ve got an excuse. I’m a dog lover. Thanks for visiting my blog and I’ll have to check out some of your other stuff now that I’m over here! Thanks for the Twitter follow, too!
Likewise! Glad you stopped by. And thanks for reading. (I’m not usually so serious when reading my fashion magazines… http://imissyouwheniblink.com/2012/08/21/truth-in-advertising-10-lessons-of-fall/)
My great friend @Erin BEst Margolin sent me the link to this post. We just lost our beloved 13 year old boxer, Saffaron,a couple weeks ago. Our hearts are still breaking and I keep looking for her in her usual spots; at my feet, on the couch in her corner,under the kitchen table, in front of the tv, in front of the doorway of my office. We loved this dog,as she was our first “baby” together and she loved us and our daughters right back with all the ferociousness and unconditional love that only a member of the family can. I miss her so. I will buy this issue but I will wait to read it, as just reading this post has broken my heart wide open and made me bawl like a baby.
So sorry for your loss. It’s tough, isn’t it? Harder than we expected when we lost our “baby.” It gets better, though, I swear. We always miss them, but the happy memories come back.
I’m not a huge fan of Lady GaGa, so I wouldn’t normally take a second glance at that issue. So, thanks for pointing it out! I haven’t lost my dog in the traditional sense, but I was forced to find her another home. I’m glad to know she’s still out there, hopefully happy as a clam. But it still hurts, and I still think of her constantly.
If you were kind enough to find her another home that was a better fit for her, I bet she’s happy. Thanks for reading!
Hi!
I’m following your link from The Bloggess and thought of sharing this link if you want to do a blog hop to get more followers http://onlectus.blogspot.com/2012/09/feature-and-follow-1.html
Happy blogging!
Really nice link.
OMG! I just read that beautiful essay in the doctor’s office this morning! Needless to say, I was crying right there in front of everybody! I just looked up and said “Good article!” I found this blog because I was looking for a reprint. I’m so glad that I was reading a current issue (a rarity in a doctor’s office) and that I can still buy that issue. Thank you for the post!!
Glad you found it!
thank you, randy. i adore ann. and there is something about writers & dogs, don’t you think?
pleased to discover your blog and want to send you a link to mine at “a little elbow room.” this one on, you guessed it, dogs:
http://alittleelbowroom.com/2012/01/07/how-do-i-love-thee-let-me-count-the-ways/
Thanks for reading – and for sharing. Yes, writers and dogs make a good pair!
I read Ann Patchett’s lovely essay about Rose in Vogue yesterday. Not a week goes by without thinking about my foster dog who passed away a year ago.
http://www.muttville.org/blog/special-tribute-herman
I’m a cat person, and am not a regular reader of Vogue, but I happened to be looking at this issue and came across the article and read it. I couldn’t stop crying and thinking of my 14 year old cat, Brigitte, who I lost in June. Brigitte’s passing did affect me more than any person I had ever lost. And I really could identify with a lot of other feelings Ann Patchett described.
Sorry to hear about your kitty. Agreed on Ann’s essay!
I read this article in Foyles Bookstore in London last September, when I sat down to rest my feet but didn’t buy the magazine. I haven’t been able to find a copy of this issue of Vogue or a link for the whole article since, so I would like to thank you so much for this excerpt. It was lovely to read this part again as the article touched me so much after my cat died. I’m sure it would give comfort to many other people who have lost their dog or cat.
Oh, I’m so happy you found your way here, then!