Charlie Brown Easter

The last time I was at a Kay Easter egg hunt, I realized that I am no better at hunting them than when I was a child. When the aunt or uncle in charge hollered "GO", all I would see were my cousins and siblings running directly to all the best hiding places. It was only a blur to me. Waves of color washed over me and I remember feeling delirious. The older cousins would later patrol the hunting area helping anyone with the fewest eggs in his/her basket, so now at the word GO, each little one would run to one of us for an assured "golden egg" find or a two-dozen egg blitz. It mattered not that I helped hide the hundred plus eggs. An old trauma resurfaced.....my ears started to ring....(oh, someone had found an egg under an old cow bell). I could not even see a pink or yellow egg. Forget about the green and blue ones. Someone hollered for me to help Heath - he had only five eggs. Such a nice young fellow - he trusts me. It was sort of like having the government ask me to keep an eye on its nuclear weapons while it went to the bathroom. I wasn't going to drag my 4 year old nef to the depths of this endless Easter egg exile that I have endured through the years. I sent him over to the uncle who hid the golden egg. Ii have had nightmares about the dozen or so eggs that are never found. After Easter was over and everyone was gone, I would walk around looking for those last few. MY HEART POUNDS, THE THRILL IS STILL THERE. THEY ARE WAITING.. I'M WILLING. Why can't I find one? THEY know I am no good at this. As I turn to leave.... THERE..in a pink dogwood tree five feet from the ground I see a multi-colored oval shaped piece of art. The egg that someone had so patiently dipped in six different colors from lightest to darkest shades and overlooked by fourteen pairs of little eyes.....AH EASTER!!!!