My Sophie Rose: The Dog That Saved a Fireman

By Christian Randolf Hill

This is a story of a small abandoned puppy and a fireman in search of filling a huge void in his life. By chance, they found each other and formed a bond that could only be broken by the death of one or the other. They were together from absolute joy and happiness to absolute sorrow and heartbreak. This is their story from the very beginning to the very end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Mar 16, 2017
• ISBN: 9781532018589

Christian Randolf Hill

After his 40+ years in the fire service, his last 15 years as a shift commander, Christian R. Hill retired to Florida. Prior to retirement, he spent most of his life in New England. The only thing he has done longer than being a fireman, is being a guitar player/song writer. He has written and recorded several songs about Sophie Rose, along with other subject matters. Hopefully will be available on YouTube soon.

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Copyright © 2017 Christian Randolf Hill.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-1857-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-1858-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017902913

iUniverse rev. date: 03/16/2017

My

Sophie Rose

THE DOG THAT

SAVED A FIREMAN

CHRISTIAN RANDOLF HILL

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Contents

Preface

A Special Note

Opening

The Fireman

Sophie

Places We Lived

Country House    6/2002

Hill House

Nice Neighborhood House

The Cove House     7/2008

River House     5/2015

Florida House

Decisions

Dogs in My Past

My Letter to Sophie

Conclusion

Lake House, 8/2016. A New Story Begins, and Her Name Is Bella Rosa

My wish is to

dedicate this book to all those of you who have experienced firsthand the tragedy and crushing heartbreak of losing your cherished pet.

To all those who routinely give their time to staff all the humane societies and animal rescue organizations across the nation. Thanks to the places and people that provide safe havens to animals who have no one and nowhere to go.

To my wonderful wife, Janine, for her help and understanding during this deepest, darkest time in my life. Even while grieving herself, she still managed to get me to the other side of my anguish. I am very lucky she is in my life, and I love her very much for it.

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Preface

I’ve always wanted to write a book, even though I had no idea about what. I never really thought I was important enough to write anything that someone would spend his or her valuable time reading. Through the years, an idea would make a cameo appearance but then fade away.

One day I was having a conversation with Dr. Carmen. I told her a few short stories about my life with Sophie. It was then she suggested I write a book about it. Suddenly I realized my calling. This was what I was destined to do, and this was what I was going to do: write about my life with Sophie Rose, from the very first to the very last day. All our travels, all our challenges, our good times and bad, the things I taught her, and the things she taught me.

The purpose of this book is to show that no matter what, we are quite vulnerable. Many of us try very hard to hide this, along with how and where we seek refuge. That part within us that has been conditioned, protected, and never allowed to be exposed is the very part that makes us human. It’s OK to hurt; it’s normal. We grieve in many ways and at many levels. It’s certainly not pleasant, but it’s still OK. Even though it feels like it, you’re not alone.

This book was very hard to write. Many times I would have to stop for a while, sometimes for the rest of the day. I wanted to share my thoughts and my story with the hope it would help someone else somewhere, somehow.

A Special Note

Please make sure you have working smoke detectors in your home. In my many years in the fire service I’ve witnessed many things. Rarely, have I ever witnessed the death of a pet in a well-protected home that had a fire that started small.

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Take a lot of pictures. Today, they’re just pictures of today; with time, they will