Easter

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays. It symbolizes a fresh start, so it's only natural that it be during springtime when trees are budding, when daffodils are blooming, or when you can smell the rain coming. Each year our family spends this time immersed in traditions, but this year it was a little different.

The Easter bunny left candy in eggs in balloons

Good Friday afternoon my family met another family at a park. We drove 15 minutes to a tiny town to enjoy the playground made entirely of wood. The park is aptly named Dreamland with it's towers and gangplanks in the shade of the trees. To add to the adventure we planned for an Easter egg hunt. My friend and I walked to the elementary school's playground, which is right next to the park, to hide the eggs we had filled with candy.

After all 50 eggs were put in obvious hiding places, we walked back to the park to see how the kids were fairing under my husband's watchful eye. We kept up conversation while all 8 kids played. After about an hour of them enjoying Dreamland, we suggested going to the school's playground. After the short walk the kids immediately started playing, not noticing our horrified faces. The eggs were laying open all over the ground. Candy wrappers were strewn through the pea gravel. It was an egg massacre, and we knew who did it.

After some investigating, we had the names of the culprits before we left the park. During the hour of conversation between hiding the eggs and finding the massacre, two boys rode up on their mopeds. In a town of 1000 people, it's not too hard to identify teenage boys that ride mopeds.

So what were we going to do with this information? I was pretty angry to say the least. I mean, who wouldn't be? Some kids gathered up all the plastic Easter eggs, devoured all the candy, and left the carnage for us to find. My 7 year-old, 5 year-old, 3 year-old, and 1 year-old couldn't have an Easter egg hunt because of them.

When I further explained the situation to my kids they were sad and angry on my behalf. Then my 7-year old said that the Easter bunny probably wouldn't visit their house. Then I realized that I didn't have to do anything about those thieving kids. They had taught my kids something that I didn't expect. If you give out kindness, you will get kindness back in return. 

We all still had a great time at the park, and the stolen candy didn't dampen our spirits. After all, Easter is about new beginnings.