m&m&m,

It’s chocolate time again! I’ll have to work on building up my tolerance, because I’ll be honest that a lot of it was quite a shock. Consumed: some new M&M – peppermint – I think it’s called Thrills? homemade chocolate PB cheesecake, a Dove PB egg and also a Butterfinger egg. Oh and a robin’s egg, the Whopper kind.

The day began in the best way possible with sunrise service on the beach. I did not feel disgustingly tired waking up at 5:45, as originally imagined, and was able to slip out the door, stepping around the trail of eggs some clever bunny deposited in a trail down the hall, but somehow it never occurred to me to bring a chair? I saw all these people with chairs, thought d’oh and *almost* headed home. But then I braved the unknown and walked up to the beach and over the foot bridge, where bagpipes and drums played. Oh yes. A simple cross set up with its back to where the sun would rise, and it eventually did by easing up through the mist over a mostly calm sea. And birds flew overhead in v-formations multiple times throughout the service – did they pay those birds? The music (not bagpipe) for the rest of the service was more subdued, lovely (the solo singer) and cool (the small folk group). Cat Stevens pre-Yusuf might have been sung, which is another cool thing I like about this church, how they incorporate modern works with a message that corresponds to the day’s (otherwise very traditional) liturgy, acknowledging that spirituality continues, isn’t frozen in time. Anyway, next year I’ll bring a blanket or chair and possibly sneakers instead of flip-flops, even though I reject that idea on the surface. My toes were cold. But the sunrise was rad, yes it was.

Happy Easter to you my friend,

pen