My Mommyology

Learning from Motherhood.

The Joy of the Experience

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Happy Easter everyone!

It is one of those weeks again where things have just piled up and the days have just gotten away from me.  I was under the weather a bit, and then we spent a lot of the week preparing for family that is currently in town.  But yes, I have also been “cooking up” some posts which you will see hopefully very very soon!  Quite exciting, if I do say so myself!

As I wait for the dryer to finish churning out our laundry, I decided to give up a few more minutes of sleep (Why I do that, I don’t know!)  to write a little bit instead.  I couldn’t pass up yesterday’s revelation, which gave me a lot of simple joy (what an apt phrase for this Easter weekend, wouldn’t you agree?)

Yesterday morning we took Sam and Jamie to the Annual Easter EggHunt at the Horace Williams House, one of the historic landmarks located within Chapel Hill.  As always, in spite of my family’s best efforts to get there on time we arrived a little past the start time.  The egg hunt for Sam’s age group was well underway by the time we stepped into the compound, so actually there were no eggs left for her.  But Sam insisted on scouring the grassy plains and landscapes for eggs that she insisted she could find.  Finally at one point we found one purple egg, but its contents had all been spoken for.  Nevertheless, Sam was quite ecstatic and proudly showcased her sole empty egg to us.  “Look!  I found one!”  she said proudly.  That actually propelled her to search even more.

My husband and I realized that what we should have done was bring some spare eggs just in case and drop them where she could find them, because she just wouldn’t stop!

Luckily, after a round of pictures with the Easter Bunny and chasing Sam up and down the estate grounds, my husband spotted a repository for “recycled eggs” (meaning, families who didn’t want a bucket-full of empty plastic eggs in their home could leave them there for next year’s hunt!), and picked up a few so he could re-hide them for her to find.  It didn’t matter if the eggs were empty or not, Sam was just thrilled to have locatedabout 10 more (empty) multicolored eggs.

My Mommyology Easter EggHunt

(top photo): Dad suspiciously hanging around some bushes. (main photo): Oh LOOK! 😉 Why didn't I see this before?!

Eventually a volunteer noticed that there were a few families with little kids with empty baskets, and so they decided to “drop” recycled eggs around for the kids to find, this time with a few jellybeans and candy treats inside.  So Sam’s loot doubled almost immediately.  And while my little girl was happily skipping her morning away, I was silently wondering, what on earth will we do with 20 empty eggs at home?!

My husband and I had to pry Sam away from the never-ending egg hunt to join some of the games that the preservation society had put up, such as table bunny bowling and an egg race.  Both games were very kid-friendly and regardless of the outcome, the kids got a prize just for joining.  At first, Sam was hesitant to participate, but with a little coaxing from me she finally joined in and happily took home her prizes.  I even remember as we were claiming the prize, she stood patiently in line, waiting her turn, with no expectation of what prize she was entitled to get.  There were other kids around her on the other hand, that kept pointing to the bigger ones and saying “I want that one!”

Up until she went to bed tonight (48 hours after all of that egg-citement transpired ;)), Sam has repeatedly said she had an awesome time, and she wants to do an Easter egg hunt, an egg race and bunny bowling everyday.  She didn’t bother to eat the jellybeans or the candies that were in the eggs, nor did she remember to look closely at the prizes she got.  The memory she took from it was the fact that we had gone to participate, and that she had fun in the process.

My heart skips a little happy beat when I think about it, because to me (at least at this age), I’m glad that this is what she took from it all.  She didn’t feel short-changed at the empty eggs she found, and she gasped and “wow”-ed in pure awe at the contents of her prizes, big and small.  It makes me happy to know that Sam puts a lot of importance in the process and the adventure, instead of how many or how big the prize is at the end.  Later on in life she may not always get the “golden egg”, but she should be proud of herself for trying and giving it her all each and every time.

Even if it means I now have to find a spot for 20 more empty plastic egg-shells in our already cluttered playroom. 🙂

Author: mymommyology

I am the mom that I am because of my two wonderful little girls. They teach me everyday.

4 Comments

  1. Love this story. Shows that Sam thinks with the glass half full, no matter what other kids might say.

    May I re-post on FB?

    BTW, my muse has popped up again. 😀

  2. Awww…. what a life lesson and a nice reminder for me 🙂 Thank you for sharing! Can’t wait to see Sam again!!!

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