Sunday, April 4, 2010

It's Not about the eggs


Several years back, darling daughter had a friend visiting over
the Easter weekend. Dearest son had already
moved on to college so it was just the girls and me.


One of the Easter traditions I began pre-teen
years, in order to reduce the amount of
sugar overload in the baskets, was an Easter Egg hunt
in the back yard.
Since the kids were long passed wanting to dye the eggs,
I had resorted to the plastic kind with the twist of filling them
with coins from the "change tin".

Although the girls were not expecting it, and would have preferred
to sleep in after a very late night before, I rousted them out
and shoved them into the yard for "the Hunt".

I was sure that the thrill of competition would take over and
soon these girls "much too old" for an Easter Egg hunt were running
and giggling all over the yard looking for a glimpse of the
yellow, pink, green and blue eggs.


Once all the eggs had been discovered each girl twisted
open the eggs and began to pile their loot onto the
porch table to count. Every year,
including this one, a surprising turn of events. No matter
how uneven each egg's number and value of coins; no matter
the disparity among number of eggs collected by each hunter:
the amount of coins always, every year, would be
within one dollar's difference of each hunter.

Darling daughter who was to be home in a month, has been
accepted into Tisch, the film school of NYU. Although we are thrilled,
this requires her to stay on for a class in summer school,
and delays her arrival home. Dearest son, residing far away
in Oregon may not be here for a visit as soon as I anticipated.

I miss my children every day, every hour, but the Holidays seem
to deepen the intensity for the longing I feel to wrap
them in my arms and hold tight. Will we ever do another hunt?
Will I repeat this with grandchildren some day? If I am long since gone,
will they repeat it with their children on their own?

Easter- it's not about the eggs.


7 comments:

Tanya said...

Happy Easter, Suzan - congrats to Hannah! I am sure your traditions will be carried over by your children for years to come - mine just recently "came back" to the egg dying thing and have turned it into a pretty fierce competition, now.

erin's art and gardens said...

aahhh.......it's all about the sweet traditions and memories we create...the easter bunny left baskets for my 4 kids (age 23-28)...you're never too old for fun and magic. , btw...fleetwood mac recorded "songbird" way before eva, but i love her rendition too. my girlfriend sang that song at my wedding. happy easter!
erin

TAPESTRIESOFNATURE said...

THAT'S A VERY MOVING STORY. I HAVE FOUR CHILDREN, ALL ADULTS NOW, BUT WE ALSO USED TO DO EGG HUNTS. IT HAS BECOME VERY HARD TO KNOW IF WE ARE ALL ABLE TO GET TOGTHER AT ONE TIME, SO THE HUNTS HAV BEEN ON HOLD. MAYBE NEXT YEAR!

Julie@beingRUBY said...

What a sweet story Suzan.... and clever adaption to the egg hunt... well I can see you are missing your kids dearly.. and you are right.. the holidays are the worst time to miss your loved ones.....I think we are all lucky to have our blogging friends to keep us company and brighten our days... thanks dear friend.. Happy Easter.. xx Julie

the old white house said...

Hello Suzan--Funny we did the same kind of hunt, provided by one of my kids favorite aunt. She prefilled eggs with change and placed them all around our yard before dinner. At first my 22 year old said she wouldn't do it but then she got in on the action when she saw her brothers competing with eachother! She ended up giving her loot to her 7 and 12 year old brother and sister. We do this every year and every year I wonder if it will happen again! I know how you feel when were not all together it just doesn't feel 'right'. Have a wonderful week, Theresa

Faded Charm said...

I love these photos. Oh to be that young and carefree again. I hope you hada nice day despite not being with your children. If you ever get over here to visit your son, let me know. I'd love to hook up with you.

Take care and enjoy your week.

Kathleen

Rebecca said...

Hello
It comes around again...
I had a hunt this year with my 2 year old grandson and it was wonderful. Once in awhile those lovely little ones that are gone and grown, dance through my dreams as though it were yesterday.
Many Blessings
Rebecca