An Easter Pageant

Easter Morning - The Drama
Easter begins as I shuffle out of my room and am met with Connor's proclamation that, "The Easter Bunny isn't real, and I know it because the chocolate bunnies are still in the cabinet, not in the basket, and you and Mom hide the eggs." Oh well, I think, the kid is in fifth grade, so I guess we've passed a major milestone and don't even have to pretend to perpetuate the holiday myths of childhood any longer. I get the feeling that I should be sad about this, like one of those "Sunrise, Sunset" moments where parents get all nostalgic and wonder where the years have gone, and all that jazz, but to be honest, it's kind of a relief. Maybe I really am a holiday humbug. The day proceeds, and Grandma and Grandpa swing by with Caitlyn, and even though the kids are older, they still want to have an egg hunt (Katie says she wants to participate as well, but when push comes to shove, she's too busy chatting to look for eggs). In fact, Connor has decided to challenge me by saying that I'm not very good at hiding the eggs and they're always way too easy to find, so with that gauntlet thrown down, I shoo them off to their rooms and begin to hide the eggs - and by hide, I don't mean place in plain sight like I did when the kids were little. They want an Easter egg hunt? Fine - I'll give them an Easter egg hunt. And for the first time, I'm taking the whole hiding thing seriously. There's a good spot, I think, as I move through the living room and out to the backyard. There's no way they'll find that one. And when the last egg is hidden, I send the kids off searching. Connor finds one egg quickly, but over the next five minutes, he doesn't find another. Meanwhile, Caitlyn finds five or six, and Carrie finds one or two, at which point, the whole thing pretty much falls apart (should have seen this coming) as we all revert to our lowest common denominators. Connor decides looking for Easter eggs is "stupid," because Caitlyn and Carrie are finding eggs and he isn't, and when anything gets hard, his first reaction is to throw in the towel, only in this case what he throws is his basket (and the one egg he found) on the ground and stomps off. While this is going on, Carrie goes into her poor-me routine and announces that, "I'm just not as good as Caitlyn at finding eggs," and starts moping around with her shoulders drooped. She won't quit - she's way too stubborn for that - but she will play the "poor me" role as far as it will take her. Caitlyn, though, continues to soldier on. I watch all this unfold, then roll my eyes and go inside to get away from the drama for a few minutes. When I peek out again to see if things have improved, I find that Connor has decided he'd rather watch "Sponge Bob" than participate, so being the rational, mature adult that I am, I tell him that he now has a choice - either he loses every form of entertainment in his life for the rest of the day or he looks for eggs (as I write this, it seems really, really ridiculous, but at the time it seemed to sort of make sense - to me at least) and he grudgingly turns off the TV and starts shuffling around while mumbling "Stupid eggs," and "Stupid Easter," and who-knows-what-else. Eventually, the majority of eggs are found (hints are needed to discover the final few), Connor's tantrum is semi-forgotten, Carrie's "poor me" routine is part of the past, and Caitlyn, bless her heart, shows us that she really has grown up quite a bit by admitting that she feels kind of bad about finding most of the eggs, and that she was trying to hold back and let the other two find some, but what's she supposed to do? I have to admit that I don't remember there being this much drama in the Easter egg hunts of my childhood, but maybe I've just blocked it out. I'll have to check with the padre y madre on that one.

Speaking of Caitlyn
I generally try really hard not to brag about my kids - for a variety of reasons - but about a week ago, we went to a play she was in at the UA and as I sat there and watched her perform, I kept wondering where on Earth this beautiful, talented, confident, and self-possessed young woman came from. So, yeah, I guess that counts as bragging. Sorry.

So What Else is New?
The UA finally hired a new coach (for $2 million a year), school districts across the city/state are being forced to cut positions and programs as the state slashes spending (does anyone else see the irony dripping down all of this?), the stock market seems to have settled down (keep your fingers crossed), our adopted cat seems to have finally gotten used to us and is starting to venture out from under the bed to socialize, our TNT team continues to train on Saturday mornings, rain or shine (lots of rain - and cold - last Saturday) and people are busting down barriers as they push beyond what they believed was possible, while I, on the other hand, have been sidelined with a flare-up of my leg injury from earlier this year. Hopefully, this too shall pass (keeping my fingers crossed and trying not to get too frustrated by the whole thing).

All righty - that's all I've got time for today, so until next time, may your pencils remain sharpened, may your paper clips remain flexible, and may your tape dispenser remain in plain sight (and filled with tape).