The Art of Racing in the Rain

by Garth Stein

I wanted him to see the obvious, that it’s okay for him to let me go. He’s been going through so much, and he’s finally through it. He needs to not have me around to worry about anymore. He needs me to free him to be brilliant.

He’s done so much for me, my whole life. I owe him the gift of setting him free. Letting him ascend. We had a good run, and now it’s over; what’s wrong with that?

So many things. People and their rituals. They cling to things so hard sometimes.

Because terriers are problem solvers. They’ll do what you tell them, but only if it happens to be in line with what they wanted to do anyway.

Because memory is time folding back on itself. To remember is to disengage from the present.

It is being a part of a moment and being aware of nothing else but that moment.

I admire the female sex. The life makers. It must be amazing to have a body that can carry an entire creature inside.

Such a simple concept, yet so true: that which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny. Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and our failures have been brought on by none other than ourselves.

And Zoë, whom I love very much and would not hesitate to sacrifice my own life to protect,

“Sometimes I think you actually understand me,” he said. “It’s like there’s a person inside there. Like you know everything.” I do, I said to myself. I do.

It’s frustrating for me to be unable to speak. To feel that I have so much to say, so many ways I can help, but I’m locked in a soundproof box, a game show isolation booth from which I can see out and I can hear what’s going on, but they never turn on my microphone and they never let me out.

a true champion can accomplish things that a normal person would think impossible.

Simply another way of saying that which you manifest is before you.

Any problems that may occur have ultimately been caused by you, because you are responsible for where you are and what you are doing there.

Learn to listen! I beg of you. Pretend you are a dog like me and listen to other people rather than steal their stories.

However things might change around us, we would always be together.

“But there’s nothing like your first. They grow up so fast.”

So much of language is unspoken. So much of language is comprised of looks and gestures and sounds that are not words. People are ignorant of the vast complexity of their own communication.

“Sometimes things change, and we have to change, too.”

To live every day as if it had been stolen from death, that is how I would like to live. To feel the joy of life, as Eve felt the joy of life. To separate oneself from the burden, the angst, the anguish that we all encounter every day. To say I am alive, I am wonderful, I am. I am. That is something to aspire to. When I am a person, that is how I will live my life.

Grandparents are convinced they’re better parents than their own kids, whose lives they’ve already fucked up.

People are not generally satisfied with what they have; they are very concerned with what they are going to have.

being alone is not the same as being lonely? That being alone is a neutral state; it is like a blind fish at the bottom of the ocean: without eyes, and therefore without judgment.

Yes: the race is long—to finish first, first you must finish.

Many of us have convinced ourselves that compromise is necessary to achieve our goals, that all of our goals are not attainable so we should eliminate the extraneous, prioritize our desires, and accept less than the moon.

But I was not killed. Because I was not finished. I still had work to do.

“There is no dishonor in losing the race,” Don said. “There is only dishonor in not racing because you are afraid to lose.”

The race is long. It is better to drive within oneself and finish the race behind the others than it is to drive too hard and crash.

Death is dark and unknown and frightening. But not for me. It is not the end.

I don’t want Denny to worry about me. I don’t want to force him to take me on a one-way visit to the vet. He loves me so much. The worst thing I could possibly do to Denny is make him hurt me.

But I don’t believe I will get the chance to see that moment. And, anyway, it is not for me to decide. My soul has learned what it came to learn, and all the other things are just things. We can’t have everything we want. Sometimes, we simply have to believe.

It is about believing that you are not you; you are everything. And everything is you.

“If you need to go now, you can go.” I turn my head, and there, before me, is my life. My childhood. My world.

“The first time I saw you,” he says, “I knew we belonged together.”

—I remember! This documentary said that after a dog dies, his soul is released into the world around us. His soul is released to run in the world, run through the fields, enjoy the earth, the wind, the rivers, the rain, the sun, the— When a dog dies, his soul is released to run until he is ready to be reborn. I remember.

“You can go.” I gather my strength and I start off and it feels good, like I have no age at all, like I am timeless. I pick up speed. I run.