Max

Last week on Monday we said goodbye to Max, our family pet of almost 15 years. I told him I loved him as I left my parents' house the Friday before. Maybe somehow I knew.

He had started losing weight from not eating. You hope it's something that can be fixed, but it was old age and just his time to move on.

I remember the day we got him in the summer of '97. There were two puppies at the top of my grandparents' stairs, and I remember hoping the one with the large head was the one my dad had picked out.

                            

He trained us quickly, and he put up with our shenanigans- me dressing him in doll clothes and my mom putting a spot of green food coloring between his eyes one St. Patrick's day. He was a good dog and a good friend. He threatened all of my boyfriends, and he seemed to know something was different after Michael proposed because he was considerably nicer to him from then on.

Max's Birthday - May 21, 2009

I always missed him when I was away from home, and I'm sure he thought someone had died when I told him goodbye as I left for Virginia. He started looking older, earning the title Mr. Max, every time we'd come home to visit. Towards the end he grew a mole on his nose, earning the name Max de Niro. 

He wasn't so sure about Theo, but they ended up being able to coexist. Theo of course just wanted to be best friends. He didn't even get mad at Max when Max stole his lunch on several occasions. They loved to walk outside with my dad and lie in the sunshine.

                             

                         

                             

I'm sure that's where he is now. Lying in the sun in the grass with his brother Buttons where there are no thunderstorms and he can roam free.