Not being a celebrator of easter, I know nothing of easter egg hunts. I have never been to one. Once, on the day after easter, I came across a very pretty hand dyed egg that someone must have hidden for someone else in prospect park. But it was an actual hard boiled egg and not a plastic candy filled egg, so after I embraced it's simple beauty I tossed it in the trash figuring it was already on it's way to spoiling. Also, one day after we had made the move to the burbs, I walked past someone's yard on easter sunday where her three dressed for church little angelic angel children were laughing and giggling and prancing around their own back yard finding their little easter egg treats. And it was all so nice and charming.
Today I showed up at a town library easter egg hunt to photograph for the paper (For the first time in weeks! It felt great!). I brought Josh along with me figuring he might enjoy it. Except we don't have easter baskets, so I gave him an organically grown cotton eco-conscientious bag that I use to tote my groceries in. I walked around trying to grab a few shots before the hunt began. As the moment approached the library lawn was simply pulsating with people. When the organizer gave the shout out to begin parents dropped to their knees, dragging their toddlers behind them, grabbing eggs, hot in the pursuit of more eggs than any one toddler needs, scurrying for eggs, filling their kid's baskets with sometimes maybe 25 or 30 eggs. It was a big blur to me. I had no idea where Josh was. It was all over in about 12 seconds, because damn! the parents of those bewildered kids sure were fast. And in the end, there was poor big 'ol Josh crying his eyes out because he didn't realize it was time to get the eggs until after all the parents snatched up every single one of the eggs. I looked around and every kid there had baskets brimming with parent snagged eggs.
So I took Josh to the coordinator because she told me she had put eggs aside in case their were any late comers. And the very same coordinator who told me she had put eggs aside told Josh she did not have any eggs. But a little girl standing nearby overheard Josh's story and she gave Josh two of her basket of eggs. And Josh being Josh, he was so happy to get those two eggs, that some lady standing nearby who did not have any kids with her, kneeled down and retrieved one of the many (over a dozen) eggs that she had for some reason stuffed into her own now bulging purse. She dropped it into Josh's reusable grocery bag. So in the end Josh ended up with three charity eggs. And he was excited. Leaving the library, hand in hand with my sweet little bad at egg snatching baby, I saw a mom and her two kids running with their colorful baskets towards the lawn where the eggs had been. I couldn't bring myself to warn them.
Oh that is so sad :( I'm not a huge fan of big Egg hunts like that for that very reason. Some people can act like vultures and take all the fun out of it. I'm glad the little girl shared some of her eggs with Josh though...
Posted by: Sandy (Momisodes) | March 23, 2008 at 02:14 PM
Those parents were no doubt remembering their own youth, when they, like Josh, were not fast enough. That was totally all about them, not their kids. Wish I could say I've never been guilty of that sort of thing, buuuuuttt.....
Posted by: Candy | March 24, 2008 at 02:05 PM