February 10, 2014

White Dog buried her head in her paws. "HOW could we have missed this day?" she wailed. "This day of ALL days? I cannot believe it! The White Dog Army is so remiss," she ended looking pointedly at me and making it clear that she meant, "The MOMMA is so remiss!" The Army crowded around her to comfort and to make it obvious that they sympathized with their leader.

All of this drama was over the fact that we had missed celebrating Thank Your Mailman Day on February 4th. In the background the keening continued..."No cake, no special song, no enthusiastic greeting"...

Mind you, I am not saying that our mailman does not deserve considerable Thank You recognition. Every day (except Sunday), this poor nearing retirement age gentleman trudges to our door and stands slowly sorting out our mail as the White Dog Army howls and sings a greeting while jumping against the windows and clambering at the doors. The frenzy reaches a crescendo as he pushes the posts through our mail slot and pauses again to adjust the contents of his sack and to steel himself for continuing on his route. The WDA does not stop when he leaves the stoop but follows him as long as they can see him go next door...quieting for a while as he invisibly moves down the block...only to lift in glorious reprise as he appears on the other side of the street.

Our mailman deserved to be remembered. Perhaps with a strong drink, sound blocking headphones, and one of those extended reach tools.

White Dog had her head in the pantry pushing through the boxes. "Do you think he would like blueberry muffins?" she asked. "There is a box of mix and I know there are berries in the freezer. And better a belated Thanks than none at all." "WD, it is after ten, do you really think we are going to make muffins tonight?" She didn't even respond as she continued to the WDA, "Tomorrow, I'll have dad put the muffins out with a note and we can sing while he stops to enjoy one. YoYoMa, please put together a list of mailman favorites to be sung and we will practice REALLY early before he comes. He will be so surprised."

Oh yeah, he will be surprised all right. I just hope the poor man has no heart issues.