A Little Night Magic

I like my life. It's busy, and it's full, but, like most people's, it's pretty routine. We were headed to hibachi after practice to celebrate my birthday a night early since Thing1 had plans for tonight, but even that seemed pretty routine.I love celebrating the kids birthdays, but I'm not really big on celebrating my own. I'm not afraid of getting older, but they seem to highlight how unsurprising life has become.Last night's birthday celebration turned out to be full of surprises.We were all surprised when friends walked in after we'd ordered, and we said happy hello. The Big Guy surprised me with a gift certificate for a serious car wash--inside and out (guaranteed to remove that faint smell of spilled milkshake). On the way home the Burlington county sheriff surprised my son with a quick stop to let him and us know that the front license plate was loose, but the best surprise was yet to come.We got home well after dark, and we knew we needed to get in and let the dog out. The car lights switched off as we exited the car, and realized I'd forgotten to turn on the porch light before I left. It was then that we saw the light on the gravel driveway and path. Surrounded by mountains, we get very little light pollution, so we instantly looked up expecting to see the moon. Instead, we saw a field of stars, scattered like dust across a velvet sky. We stood in silence. The only sound was the wind moving through the trees, and just before the dog could be heard whining from the house to let us know she really had to go, I was quite sure I heard it whisper, "Surprise!"