The Wrong Day

In Cyprus, we tend to celebrate name days more than birthdays.  According to the Greek Orthodox Church, a child should be named after a christian saint. Although in recent years, the Church no longer refuses to christen a child by the name the parents have chosen, most Greek Cypriots would name their children after a grandmother or a grandfather who's already got a christian orthodox name. Very often, not naming a child after a grandparent may lead to serious misunderstandings and arguments between parents and grandparents. As a result of this ritual, name days are very important here.

A couple of months ago, as I was  surfing on the Net,   I suddenly remembered my mother's name day on the 25th. I had not even got a present for her! In a panic, I called Alkis and begged him to send some flowers to mum despite the fact that I knew he was jammed with work. He was preparing a meeting at that time, but he said he'd ask his secretary to arrange that. I emailed him the wishes for the greeting card and his secretary did not delay one minute to place the order.
Later in the morning, I had a look at the date. It said: 25 October 2018. Oh no! My mother's name day is on 25 November! Saint Catherine's Day! No sooner had I realised that I sent mum flowers on the wrong day than I called Alkis back but ..he was at the meeting and his mobile phone was set to silent. I texted him hoping that he'd do something to stop the delivery of the flowers .
When he called me back, it was too late. The flowers had already been delivered. My mum called to thank me for the lovely surprise!  She thought the flowers were a birthday gift! When I told her that I had forgotten her birthday and that the flowers were meant for her name day, she laughed and said that  she loved both the ...surprise and the flowers!
The funny thing is that Alkis' secretary thought she'd call her cousin Catherine to wish her Happy Name Day. The cousin said: "Are you crazy, girl? My name day is in a month today!"