"My Hero"
Custom Painting in memory of Maximus Joseph Sundberg
Born 4/10/2018, he was age 3 when he died on 4/8/2022
What an honor it has been to do this work in memory of Maximus. His mother reached out to us and shared so much about him. Her words can convey so much more than we can. 🤍
"Maximus Joseph Sundberg... had light brown hair that was kept short on the sides and back and just a little longer on top, he had the most beautiful brown eyes and light skin tone.
Max is amazing. Our first born child after struggling with infertility. He was SO full of life, joyful, happy and incredibly smart. He loved to read and was quickly memorizing his books to read back to us. He loved trucks and cars, had hundreds of them! Would race them, build a garage out of blocks or magnatiles.
Absolutely loved superheroes! Spider man, iron man, captain America- Max was our favorite superhero, always saving us from the bad guys. He was an amazing big brother to his baby sister Adalyn. He loved to play outside, jumping on the trampoline and playing in the sandbox. He was just someone who lit up a room. His laugh and smile made everyone around him laugh.
He loved to learn, loved to tell stories and sing songs. He was always on the go, but when he’d snuggle up and watch a movie it just felt so warm and cozy and I soaked up every moment of those snuggles as I knew they would not last forever.
At the time I thought it would be because he’d grow up and not want to snuggle his mama,
I had no idea he’d suddenly die in his sleep with no warning.
He was not sick, he was so perfectly healthy and happy and to not have any answers as to why this happened leaves us so broken and lost. It took a long time to get a cause of death which then was called Sudden unexplained death in Childhood.
Our sweet, smart boy had his entire life ahead of him and I wish I could have seen him grow up and make the world a better place. It also is so hard to mourn the day he died so closely to his birthday. He didn’t get to open his presents or blow out his candles.
I think Max is reading stories and running and playing with Jesus. I think he gives Jesus hugs and snuggles like he did with us. I think he tells him stories and gets super excited! He’s surrounded by love and knows nothing but love and happiness. He had the best smile that made his eyes just sparkle. I think he’s so happy, safe, loved and still his goofy silly self. I think he is with our loved ones who went before him, and I know he hand picked his baby brother Archer who arrived about a year after Max died.
I had a dream after he died that he was sitting in the most soft cozy white bed (not sure if it was indeed a bed or just a lot of white pearly iridescent bedding or something) and he was sitting there smiling at me, hi mama! I knew he was okay. I knew he wasn’t scared when he left. I know an angel came and they left hand in hand and now he sits with Jesus where it is warm and sunny and perfect.
I think of him with rainbows and blue skies and fluffy clouds and water, but not like open vast water. More like the shore where you hear the waves come in on Lake Superior and it just feels calm and peaceful. I saw a Cardinal the morning after he died. And now anytime a Cardinal or butterflies or a dragonfly comes to our house I smile and I talk to him. I just imagine it is very calm and serene and peaceful".
This portrait was an attempt to capture the faith of this sweet mamma. The lake is lake superior, the lighting is influenced from her dream. Max's costume and joy in seeing His true hero, is shone on his face. This is how Lauren imagines meeting him again. He will see her, and with the great big smile come running to her arms.
Oh what a beautiful day that will be. 🤍✝️
Thank you Lauren, for sharing Max with us. Truly every parent needs to hear this story to remind us, we have them for a moment. We must cherish the moments and live our life with gratitude for the time we have.
Max, you had your whole life ahead of you, you were taken so suddenly and without any explanation 💔😔 Oh how we mourn for you. Perhaps the explanation is, "you went home for super hero training, and you wanted to learn from the best."
Your love, your smile and your personality will continue to inspire us to be a hero in our own way by following the example of Christ.
Sending SO much love to Max and his family! 🤍🦋💞
Do you want us to do a custom portrait for you? We are working on making this available to more people. Reach out to us for more details.