Bless the Little Children

When I was eight years old, I learned that my new school offered a wonderful activity – an Easter Egg Hunt, sponsored by the P.T.A. I’d never been on an Easter Egg Hunt. The note I carried home to my mother said each child should bring an Easter basket to hold their eggs. (Oh Happy Day, we would be allowed to keep the eggs we found!) We were all to meet Saturday at 2:00 PM at the city park.

The note also said that other siblings in the home were welcome to attend. Obviously, this meant that since I had no siblings at home, my three year old niece could participate. She had never been to an Easter Egg Hunt either.

During the afternoon, I caught a glimpse of her from time to time searching under trees and among the grass. I wondered if I should help her, then decided I needed to concentrate on finding eggs myself. After all, if she didn’t find many, I would share my bounty with her.

I passed up a few decorated boiled eggs. I could have a boiled egg anytime. My focus was on the pretty candy eggs of red, green, yellow and pink. We’d been told that there were some special chocolate eggs wrapped in foil. But I never found one of those.

Soon the P.T.A. ladies walked among us saying the hunt was over. All the eggs had been found.
I saw my niece standing beside my mother at the edge of the park, wearing a big smile and holding tightly to her basket. I was pleased to see her so happy. I joined them and began to count the eggs in both baskets.

Imagine my dismay when I realized my niece had twice as many eggs as I did – plus she had found two foil-wrapped chocolate eggs!