Happy Birthday, Little Guy

February 24 . . . time to say, "Happy Birthday" and hope you can hear that wherever you are now, Little Guy.
The "Little Guy," Dusty, would have been eleven today.
Or maybe not.
It is really impossible to know for sure when a dog's birthday really is, especially when they are originally a rescue.
Someone in the know estimates their age and then creativity sets it to determine a date of birth.
So based on guesstamated  age, Dusty would be turning eleven.
And based on creativity, it would be today.
And that is because it is February 24.
I received Dusty on  the day before Ash Wednesday.
I was informed by his handlers that he had been called Dusty but that I was free to give him a new name.
But why?
Dusty is a perfectly good name.
I should know.
My surname is Kurzawa and translating from Polish to American it is: storm, strong storm, violent storm, winter storm (blizzard) or sand storm (desert storm.)
So, while in college at the Polish Seminary (where many knew at least smatterings of Polish,) I acquired the nickname of "Dusty." For those four years in college that was what I heard when someone was calling me. I was the Dust Storm! Dusty!
So Dusty is a perfectly good name.
It's the family name.
So, when told I could give this little guy any name I wanted, I chose to stick with Dusty. We shared the same name even though my being called by that had disappeared many years ago.
Anyhow, Dusty seemed like a perfectly good name.
Besides it was the day before Ash Wednesday.
"Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return!"
Why not?
And with that kind of start, determining his "birthday" led to looking back to 2009. That would be the year guesstimated as his birth year.
So when was Ash Wednesday that year?
After all, with a name like his, with his arrival on the day before Ash Wednesday, seemed most logical to locate Ash Wednesday in the guesstimated year of his birth and then give him an actual "birthday."
Ash Wednesday 2009 was February 25. So the day before was, obviously, the 24th.
And so the 24th of February became the declared birthday of a little critter named Dusty.
And it is here again.
February 24, 2020.
Only Dusty is not.
So we just have to have a "birthday" without the guest of honor.
And he will not be curling up in his favorite blanket and he will not be squeaking one of his silly toys and he will not be napping and snoring like a tiger.
And there are no special treats for him -- not this year.
Not here.
It's his birthday without Dusty.
So I guess this will just have to be a day of remembering and hoping that the Little Guy can feel someone saying," Happy Birthday, Little Guy!"

And Wednesday will be dust without Dusty.