Easter 2010 - Bitter Sweet

This year we celebrated Easter at home in Provo. On Saturday morning (Easter Eve) we were super excited to attend the local Provo city egg hunt. When we arrived the park was packed and eggs were scattered out across the lawn. The park had been separated into different egg hunts according to age. Sydney was in the age group of two and below. Since she was older than most of the other kids she was competing against, we anticipated a good haul. We lined up along the line anxious for the hunt to begin. Sydney could see the eggs, but she waited patiently until Dad told her she could go. As the countdown began I crouched down next to Sydney to help her get a good start. When the whistle blew she ran out into the field only to be squashed by the overzealous PARENTS!! Yeah, the hunt was suddenly between two year olds and all the parents. As Sydney approached the first egg it was quickly swiped up, not by a two year old, but a parent a good five yards away from any child she could claim as her own! I could feel the anger building inside of me. I surveyed the situation, I noticed that a good 95% all the eggs were being hunted by parents while either holding their child in their arms as they ran frantically, or by parents with no child close at all!! It was becoming apparent that if we didn't act quickly Sydney would not get any eggs at all. I picked up Syd and ran to an area that had not been hit by the crazy parents yet(but they were only five or so seconds behind me). I quickly gathered five eggs and huddled over them like a mother hen. I told Syd to put them in her basket. She bent over and slowly put the eggs into her basket. And with that the hunt was over. It had taken all of one minute.

I had never been so bitter at Easter. As I looked around I saw parents with kids who could not even walk holding baskets overflowing with Easter eggs. I silently prayed to remember the true meaning of Easter. We quickly returned to the car and drove home.

The next morning we had a much better experience. We searched for eggs around the home without any crazy, over zealous parents creating unchristian feelings within me. Sydney enjoyed Ester and we had a wonderful breakfast. We read the story of the resurrection and slowly the memory of the Provo egg hunt alleviated.

Easter 2010 - it was wonderfully bitter sweet!