By KAREN MADORIN
Family gatherings mean food, fun, good times, and laughter, and this year our gathering made me question my memory. Besides bringing a side dish to the gathering, my contribution involved setting up the grandkids outside Easter Egg Hunt. The four grands ages run from five to fifteen, so I have to get creative to challenge each age.
A good-natured group, these youngsters look forward to searching their other grandparents huge yard filled with bushes, trees, yard art, play equipment, and lawn furniture perfect for hiding bright colored plastic eggs stuffed with money or candy. Because of age differences, I color code eggs so each grand picks up only one color. That helps me design the hunt to challenge individual ages and abilities.
To simplify my life, I pre-fill eggs ahead of time, placing each color in its own bag. To start the project, I lay out 8 eggs per kiddo accompanied by piles of goodies to fill those 32 eggs. When the job is done, I store the bags in a plastic tote in the trunk so I don’t forget it. What could go wrong?
The past couple of years, the older youngsters found their treasures way too easily so I decided to hide a few eggs that required creative searching. I made sure the girls could see them if they looked in exactly the right spot, but they’d need to focus. Of course, if things got too frustrating and threatened our scheduled Easter dinner, I’d intervene saying, “Hotter, colder” as needed. My help wasn’t really necessary; with four seekers scampering around the area, they spied hidden gems their cohorts missed and offered their own hints.
After an extended hunt for those extra-challenging treasures accompanied by clues and laughter, the kids found all but one egg. Puzzled, I wandered the yard, checking my hiding spots. I was certain I’d hidden 32 eggs. But I couldn’t find the missing object. Initially, I questioned whether I’d miscounted blue eggs, until the kids catalogued the contents. Checking each stash, I knew the missing egg held 2 quarters. I’d laid out money in four piles to guarantee everyone got the same amounts. When I finished filling eggs, none was left over. That knowledge I filled that egg relieved my mind, but I wondered where was it? Had it fallen off the table onto my dining room chair and never made it to the hunt?
Throughout the day, family humorously razzed me about losing eggs instead of marbles. Once we arrived home that evening, I immediately searched our dining room, fully expecting to find a runaway blue egg. Zip, nada, nothing. Clearly, I had hidden it but couldn’t find it. Despite a yard full of kids and adults searching, none of us discovered it though we looked high and low.
The next morning, a text announced it mysteriously ended up in the corral. Somehow gravity involved itself. Though I’d stabilized each orb as I hid it, one tumbled out of wire constraints on the limestone post where I’d firmly tucked it. It fell and rolled under a wire fence into the horse pen where family found it when they went out to feed.
I’m guessing those horses spent an afternoon wondering what kind of chicken laid a blue egg in their pen.