Presented with choices for his birthday celebration, grandson David opted for an egg in the eye for breakfast, followed by birthday cake. John and I agreed it was the thing to do. By the time we sang happy birthday to him, his eyes were fully open. As you might guess, David is most definitely not a morning person.

John and I had already walked to the creek and showered before David got up. A few hours after our breakfast dessert, we went to Bogart’s, one of David’s favorite restaurants. He ordered one of their chicken sandwiches. It had fried chicken, barbecue sauce, cheese, lettuce, pickle, and tomato. It was so messy he had to wash his hands after eating. John had a grilled Portobello mushroom sandwich, and I had a chicken salad sandwich. On my wish list is a selective reading button. Foodies could choose to read this paragraph, and others wouldn’t have to see it.

We walked up and down Main Street, going in the shops David wanted to see. We like checking the old favorites and seeing the new stores coming in. John and I never do this by ourselves, only when someone is here with us. Waynesville is a tourist/arty town that has gift shops, antique stores, art galleries, a chocolate shop, and breweries on Main, along with restaurants, real estate agents, a dog bakery, cinema, cooking shop, and furniture stores. We made one purchase. John bought a can of old-fashioned scouring powder that he said would be perfect for cleaning the bathroom at the train club. Whoop-de-doo!

As we came back to the car, I told David to pose with it to show how close he parked to the curb. If someone told me to parallel park on a very busy, narrow street, I would have chosen to skip the window gazing. He did it easily. It reminded me of his mother. She failed the parking part of the driver’s test that had traffic cones as markers. She drove us straight to Smithtown, parallel parking perfectly on the main drag where cars were everywhere.

As you can see from the picture, the street was dry, and people were wandering around the town. It seems this is the first day without periods of heavy rain for almost a week. I’m not aware of any flooding in the town, despite the videos that have been shown on TV of spots in Western North Carolina. Flooding was very real, just not here. David had his Burger King shirt and hat in the car. He drove straight to work, and I rode home with John.

The end of the day is going to be as weird as the beginning. David and John are going to Tennessee tomorrow for a meeting at the train club. David hates getting up early. His solution? After working the late shift at the restaurant, he will come home and sleep in the mini-van. He said he will sleep buckled up, so there will be no need for John to wake him at 5:30 or 6 when he begins the long drive.

Happy Birthday, David!