Oliver's NonBirthday

Today is supposedly Oliver's birthday. Except it's not. Today is the
day the previous owners' vet claimed to be his birthday. Or at least,
today's the day the owner's claimed to be his birthday and the vet
confirmed it. After his age-related eye injury taught us that he's
actually more like (insert whisper here) eight or nine, we now know
the original date to be inaccurate.

Looking at his old and extensive vet records, it's interesting to see
what his life was like before he came to me. Some notes written on
them, "Called owner and gave him lab results. He said he'll have teeth
cleaned when he drops them off for boarding".

"Them". When he drops "them" off. Ollie used to have another dog
around him. He also had all the same issues he has now, minus the eye
injury.

Much like I wonder what breed he actually is, I wonder how old my dog
is? Maybe I wouldn't care if birthdays weren't such a big deal in my
family. But, they are, and now I'm a bit peeved that I could turn to
my dog and say "Happy Birthday" on the wrong day because no one
freaking wrote it down right. I suppose it's like that doggie costume
party - more for the owner than the dog.

I could claim his birthday to be June 6 since that's the day I got
him, but, it would be weird. June 6 would come around and I knew I'd
be celebrating a false date (keeping in mind, "celebrating" means
turning to him, saying "Happy Birthday!" and him sitting quickly for a
treat, a treat that I will give him. That would be the extent of it).

This makes me think of my dear friend Rachel, whose birthday was
declared to be the day her parents adopted her form Korea at age nine.
Of course, she KNEW when her real birthday was, so she was all what
the hell? My birthday was nine months ago! Far more of an egregious
error than Oliver's I realize. I always think of Rachel in January,
even though her "birthday" is September 28.