Our Beloved Max 

Our our dearest beloved soulmate Max was born on April 19, 2002 early in the morning at Amorosa Newfoundlands at the moment our dearest beloved soulmate Sam passed away. Our beloved Sam was in the hospital and on that day we were going to prepare the house to bring him home on the following day. The phone rang around 5:30AM and they told us that Sam's lungs had filled with fluid and he went into cardiac arrest. They managed to revive him, but said that they were keeping him alive just barely and artificially. We realized that his time to leave this world had come. We were so broken hearted from the loss of our Sam that we barely had the will to go on. I happened to search the web to look for information on Sam's relatives and breeder to let them know about Sam. Somehow I stumbled onto the web site of Amorosa Newfoundlands and saw that a litter of Newfoundland dogs was born on April 19, 2002. We decided that we should probably look for another Newfoundland, not to replace Sam---Sam could never be replaced---but rather to share our love with another newfie. We still weren't really sure that the time was right to adopt another Newfie. At any rate, we called Ana Ayala of Amorosa and she said we could visit the litter. We did just that on May 24, 2002.

All the puppies in the litter were sweet. It didn't seem to us that we'd get any of them, however. Mostly, we just wanted to be with Newfies. We didn't expect to fall in love with any of them. Then we met Max. There was just something about him. We really didn't want to love him, but it just happened. We formed a special and magical bond with Max immediately. Max got into our very broken hearts at a time when we thought it was impossible and when we didn't want it to happen; we didn't think we'd get him anyway. But Max obviously wanted us and we wanted him. Ana was kind enough to let us adopt him. Max saved our lives. He put our broken hearts back together by making us love him!

Here's a picture of the moment we knew in our souls that Max was meant to be with us.

As soon as we brought our beloved Max home, we were inseparable. We enjoyed walks, and playing with him with a variety of toys, we kissed him and snuggled with him all day. It was clear from a very early age that Max was an exceptionally smart dog. Throughout Max's entire life we always slept in the same room. Sometimes he'd climb into our bed and sleep with us.

These early days were filled with adventures. Pictures of our beautiful Max appeared in NewfTide, the following one making it to the cover.

The two other pictures of Max that appeared in NewfTide are of Max in our backyard at three months of age:

and at 16 months of age in Bristol, RI.

When Max was about a year old, we adopted Kloofbear's Joseph Rothman to be Max's brother. (Joe is biologically Max's uncle.) The two became very close. Wherever Max would go, Joe would follow. If Max would lay down somewhere, Joe would always find a way to lay down right next to Max.

Max was always friendly and loving to all he met, from very young to very old, and all other animals. No being was ever kinder, or more gentle. Max was very wise, clever, and patient. He loved to play and have an intellectual challenge. Max was always a good sport, never getting angry or frustrated if someone else beat him to the ball or toy. You could see the twinkle in his eyes and his smile while he figured out how to outsmart everyone else. We thanked God every day for having Max in our lives. He was our angel, and we never felt closer to God than when we were in Max's presence. No temple or holy ground nor any other event in ours lives ever made us feel such a powerful closeness to the divine as Max did. When we were with Max, the way he came into our lives, and the feeling we had when we looked into his most beautiful of all beautiful eyes, we felt a divine presence and the kindness of God himself. We expected to have him in our lives much longer. But that was not to be.

Our very dearest beloved soulmate Max passed away on May 5, 2008 at 7:55 A.M. He was only 6 years old.

Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha'olam, dayan ha-emet.
"Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the universe, the True Judge."

Max was at Angell Animal Medical Center hospital in Boston, where he had surgery on Friday May 2, 2008 for a torn cruciate. At first it seemed that the surgery went well, but he had some problems develop after the surgery. On Sunday we worked very hard to build a ramp so that Max would not even have to walk any steps to get into and out of the house (during his recovery). Then, as we were on the road up to Boston to pick up Max to bring him home, a vet from the hospital called as told us that Max had a fever and they wanted to keep him longer in intensive care, giving him IV anti-biotics. On Sunday night the fever had gone down and it looked like he was back on the road to recovery, but very early Monday morning they called us at 5:04 A.M. and said that Max vomited and aspirated it into his lungs. They told us that Max went into cardiac arrest, and although they managed to resuscitate him, he repeated the cardiac arrest several times. He passed away in our arms shortly after we arrived at the hospital.

We were (and will always be) in such shock. He was only 6 years old, and our hearts are so very broken! He was very happy and healthy, and was never alone during his short lifetime, which was always so filled with love. Max was ripped away from our lives much too soon. But Max will NEVER be ripped from our hearts! Max, our beautiful angel who saved our lives, is now in heaven again with God. And he is with Sam, his newfie mother Tina, his grandfather Espen, his grandmother Bella, and other wonderful souls in heaven at the Rainbow Bridge, much too soon, but he is there. And one day we will be with him again and kiss him and hold him and look into his most beautiful of all beautiful eyes and souls.

We are with Joseph now, and we know he is still waiting for his brother Max to come home. They were so very close and loved each other so much. We look into Joseph's beautiful loving face, and we don't know how to tell him that his dearest beloved Max is in heaven now, but that one day, when God decides that it is time, we will all be reunited in heaven and NEVER part again.