Birthday evening

I enjoyed a lovely birthday evening tonight, starting with our traditional dinner at Cafe Atlantic. The very first time I came to Ocracoke, when I was smitten and knew I wanted to live here within 15 minutes of arriving in the village, it was near my birthday so we ate at Cafe Atlantic to celebrate. I've eaten there on every birthday that I was on the island since, which hasn't been all of them, but has been many of them! Anyway, the meal was terrific as always, and I got dessert even though I was too stuffed to eat it right then. Ruth's chocolate peanut butter pie was on the menu, and I try never to turn that down if I can help it! It will make a fantastic - although unconventional and certainly not healthy - breakfast tomorrow morning.

After dinner, I went to the Ocrafolk Opry show (John headed home to put Connor to bed). DeepWater Theater was packed to capacity with a sellout crowd, so I sat in the back with the performers, which in many ways was even better, since I was among friends back there. When the show ended, I hung out for a while, helping put chairs away and just chatting with everyone. Someone had brought a batch of chocolately, gooey, nutty brownies of some sort, which we shared. They were delicious.

I walked home from the theater barefoot, carrying my shoes, by the light of the not quite full moon, and counted my blessings. It was a marvelous birthday.