Somebody had a special day! (almost two months ago)

NB: this should have appeared on Humphrey's special day, which was July 12. Somebody mistakenly saved it instead of publishing it, and she has been forgiven for her error.

Dusk was just falling over Humphrey’s vacation home on Monday evening. He sat, front paws crossed, on his favorite chaise longue, his cup and saucer of evening milk by his side, taking sips to make its sweet goodness last. A branch of the small Japanese maple casually brushed the arm rest as Humphrey watched the fire flies linger about. He knew by now that fire flies are a delight for the eyes, but not the taste buds, so he prudently refrained from trying to catch them as he used to when he was a puppy.

A gentle breeze made its way from the east, and Humphrey caught it in his nose, immediately putting his keen olfactory system to work. A familiar scent! He craned his neck, raising his muzzle as high as he could to get a better sampling – a sweet, intoxicating aroma. His nose wiggled as he took in more and more of the aroma, and it filled his soul with an especially positive sense memory.

Mimosa in bloom

“It’s mimosa! The mimosa is in bloom!” he exclaimed, jumping off the chaisse and eagerly making his way through the shortcut in between the boxwoods to the east lawn. His guardian followed, talking the longer route around the bed of nosturia and the weeping mulberry, far too big to manage the malti-poo-sized shortcut.

Together, they looked up to the mimosa tree, it’s delicate and fern-like leaves leading way to the feathery, fuchsia buds. Sure enough, the mimosa was in bloom, and by now even his guardian could smell it. During the year, they would enjoy the pretty good facsimile of Guerlain’s Tiare Mimosa, but nothing is as complex and refreshing as the real thing.

“You know what this means?” Humphrey said with a big smile. Before his guardian could answer, he exclaimed, “It must be my birthday!”

He was right. Just as lily of the valley means his guardian’s birthday has arrived, the mimosa means it’s Humphrey’s special day.

Dufflet lemon cakelets make a party!

In a series of coincidences and metaphors befitting a Dan Brown novel, Humphrey’s birthday is a particularly special day. For starters, decades ago, Močiutė[1] planted the mimosa tree as a tiny sapling, perhaps a foot high. She nurtured it for years, and it didn’t begin blooming until about 2008, after her death. About six years ago, long before Humphrey was even born, Močiutė suffered a massive stroke (she was well into her 90s) on July 12, and died a few days later. July 12 also happens to be the feast of St. Veronica, which was also Močiutė's name and therefore patron saint. As things happened, the tree began blooming on or about July 12 a few years after her death, which always reminds Humphrey's family of her. And now, Humphrey has joined the family, and his birthday is also July 12.

“You’re right, Humphrey,” his guardian confirmed. “It’s your birthday tomorrow! You’ll be five!” Humphrey shares this birthday with the likes of Milton Berle, Richard Simmons, Bill Cosby and Henry David Thoreau to name a few!

Paper birthday hats are a fine fashion statement

And what a birthday it was. A trip to the pet store and some new squeakies, human friends over to share in the Dufflet lemon cake (not to mention a dinner of crispy salmon skins!) and paper birthday hats, and finally a visit with Mikey the bichon for a good play.

By the end of the day, Humphrey was exhausted, but he went out for one last sniff of the beautiful Mimosa flowers before drifting off to sleep with a smile on his face, and his new squeaky octopus which he picked out himself at the store in his arms.

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[1] That’s the Lithuanian word for grandmother