By Lynn Willoughby
Lessons From Lucy: The Simple Joys of an Old, Happy Dog ~ Dave Barry
I love Dave Barry’s sense of humour. Everything I have read – whether fiction or non-fiction, makes me laugh and admire this man who has had an extremely successful career as a humourist writer – both in his newspaper columns and his books.
Lucy is the family dog, and as Barry turns 70 he reflects on life through seven lessons learned from Lucy. These lessons range from “Make new friends and keep the ones you have” to “Don’t stop having fun” to “Let go of your anger”. Lucy is filled with anger every week when the garbageman take away “their” garbage. She barks furiously, bouncing up and down. But once he is out of sight, she goes back to snoozing in her patch of sunlight. Barry, on the other hand, when furious at the driver who cuts into the front of a long line of merging traffic, can’t let it go on the entire drive – and often he is telling his wife about it at dinner. And to what end? The jerk didn’t even know Barry was angry!
Barry contemplates his life – his family, friends, work and of course it is often very funny, but often poignant. His humiliations are often our humiliations. The absurdities he sees in everyday life are ones we all see every day. We are all getting older so let’s use the lessons from Lucy to make each day the best it can be. Barry’s reference to Louis Armstrong’s song “It’s a Wonderful World” makes me realize how fortunate I am.
Family, friends, health, enough to eat, a safe home and of course, laughter, are things to be grateful for. Yes, the world may be going to hell, but when hasn’t it been? Don’t stop having fun!!
Who Knew?
Barry has been a member of the band “The Rock Bottom Remainders” since its inception in 1992. It is a rock charity super group consisting of published writers such as Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, Barbara Kingsolver, Mitch Albom and many others, as well as some professional musician. “We play music as well as Metallica writes novels” – Dave Barry.
