Mimi in leaves Submitted photo

BETHEL  —  Ashley Broderick is an Art Teacher at Crescent Park. During the pandemic, she would make art tutorial videos for her students, and at the end, her pug, Mimi, adorned with a beret and an apron, would always make a debut. Efforts were made with a paintbrush but quickly dismissed.

When Mimi is not showing her artistic side, she is showing her affectionate side.

“I think my favorite memories with her are just when we’re all sitting around and she’ll snuggle in with you, like she always finds a little spot to sit, and she’ll rest her head on one of us, and just seeing her like that is probably one of my favorite [memories],” Broderick says. “And her little tongue will hang out because she’s missing quite a few teeth!” she laughs. “She’s always been very loving and affectionate. I just think she’s unique and one of a kind; she definitely has her own personality and way of doing things.”

One unique thing about Mimi is when she barks, her whole body shakes causing her entire body to come off the ground.

Back to Mimi’s artistic side. Her Mom and Owner Broderick decided one year for Halloween the two would dress up, as each other. Mimi wore a blonde wig, and branded around her neck was a scarf. Broderick wore an eye-patch (Mimi has one-eye).

Despite Mimi having one-eye, she’s on the same routine as her parents, waking when they rise, sitting with Broderick ’s husband when he works from home, and come dinner, sitting under her daughter’s highchair, waiting for food. Her sight doesn’t seem to affect her. More than anything, Mimi is a fixture of the family. With them for 14 years, Broderick paints a beautiful picture of Mimi through her photographs, YouTube art lesson videos, and endless happy stories.