CHOCOLATE BUNNIES, EGGS AND JELLY BEANS

 

As our family gathered for Easter…within a few minutes…in my brain…a memory was jarred…of our children and grandchildren searching for eggs the Easter Bunny had hidden in our yard.

I remember our children with their Easter baskets crammed with that fake grass…colored green…and filled with the eggs we dyed, a chocolate bunny and a rainbow of jelly beans.

But our children are much older now…our youngest grandchild is about to turn 16…and we no longer celebrate with the Easter bunny, baskets or jelly beans.

As I sat there I began to wonder in all the years watching our amazing family growing up…when exactly was it…the moment the Easter Bunny stopped showing up.

Childhood is believing the Easter Bunny will come in the night and hide eggs in the grass, the bushes and the ferns…childhood ends the moment we stop believing the Easter Bunny will return.

It is a subtle transformation one day there are no more eggs to find for we’ve discovered other things…as we leave our childhood behind.

Instead of talking about the Easter bunny…jelly beans…and candies filled with cream…

We talk about their lives…their hopes…their wishes…and their dreams…

This year the conversations had nothing to do with Easter baskets or the goodies they contain…it focused on more important subjects like how they’ll be no Easter in Ukraine.

The question is often asked…which some find odd…some unusual…and some funny…

Does the Easter Bunny outgrow us…or do we outgrow the bunny?

I don’t think it’s either…actually…I think the Easter Bunny’s mission is and always will be to leave behind…a little innocence, hope and wonder in the corners of our minds

And once the bunny realizes her mission is over…once in our minds these ideas have been implanted…she’s off to the next generation of children who need to be enchanted.

Which is why you’ll always see me smiling on Easter…knowing even when our children have all outgrown their teens…there remains within their hearts a place for chocolate bunnies, eggs and jelly beans

And why you’ll find even children my age…on Easter…once that memory has been jarred… searching for an egg or two…that might be hiding in our yard.