So … I’m waxing literary again. I just finished reading John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. Like many of you, I read The Grapes of Wrath in high school, but I had not read East of Eden until my book club chose it as our July selection. While I don’t pretend to create stories of human archetypes at Champion of My Heart, here are a few passages that seemed relevant to life with Lilly.
Boasting about small things
Page 4: “You can boast about anything if it’s all you have.”
The power of streaks
Page 6: “And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.”
The love of a dog
Page 39: “And as he was capable of giant joy, so did he harbor huge sorrow, so that when his dog died the world ended.”
Steinbeck had a poodle named Charley, who went everywhere with him. Here’s a link to some other dog quotes from the author.
I think my favorite from this collection is this:
That sums up the concept of blogging about our dogs … don’t you think?
Great book, I’ll look forward to more Steinbeck wisdom applied to living with dogs as you continue. My favorite dog author is James Herriot, such a beautiful flavor of Yorkshire England combined with his top-notch storytelling. Here’s a quote for you, attributed to Sue Murphy: “Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? I think that’s how dogs spend their lives.” I’m feeling pretty much like that’s how I’m living my life these days too!
– Sue Murphy