I Have Found

This isn't going to be easy. Oooookay.

I had a few pets between the ages of 5-9. Some fish that died quickly. Hermit crabs. Two Finches named Peter and Wendy - Wendy ended up killing Peter, and died soon after. It was weird.

But then when I was 10 came Max. We were in Maine one summer and one our cooks at the Fish House was telling everyone that his dog just had puppies. My mom had no desire to get a dog. Why would we? We flew back and forth from FL to ME every Summer, how could it possibly be practical?

And then, I'll never forget, my brother brought one of the puppies out, gave it to my mom, and that was it. We were keeping him.

My mom and I named him Max. For a whole bunch of reasons, but mainly it was the first name to come to mind. He was small and happy and adorable and even my dad loved him instantly.

One of my favorite memories of Max as a puppy was how he'd sleep. When we first got him, he stayed in his carrier mainly. But after a while, he would come onto my parents' bed at night and sleep right on top of my dad's head. (This is something he'd still attempt to do when he got bigger, not realizing he'd be suffocating us.)

Max is the reason my mom and I started driving from FL to ME every Summer. After we first got him we had no choice but to fly him back to FL. I remember crying the entire flight. We had to change planes on the way, and my mom and I saw them transferring luggage and such to the new plane. When the guy took Max's carrier off the truck, he took off his glove to pet him. Because he was that loveable.

All of my favorite memories of Max involve my friends as well. He was like all of ours. In middle school he was an intergral part of all the sleepovers at my house. Even my friends who didn't really like dogs loved him. He was a part of inside jokes, and would even sleep on the mattresess on the livingroom floor with us.

For his 10th and last birthday, Anthony and I threw him an impromtu birthday party. It was Black and White themed, and it was epic. My mom baked a cake, and we all decorated it. 

The shindig was complete with presents that everyone brought him, which he enjoyed very

 much.

It's one of my very best memories, because of Max, and also because it had randomly brought together a group of people I hadn't seen in a while. Sounds kind of silly, but he had that power. :)

He died a little over a year ago, right before Thanksgiving '07. He'd been sick for a week or so, and then it was just time. I got the call around 10am and knew exactly why my mom was calling before I even picked up the phone. I don't think I ate anything for 3 days. I canceled plans with friends... only left the apartment once. It sucked. But it got better. Sometimes it's still hard. I was lucky to have amazing friends to help me get through it, even though half of them were 1500 miles away. They were all as upset as my mom and I were. It was something special. I miss him everyday.

*K