Easter Egg Hunts

So Anyone who knows me knows I like to tell on myself. It's a defense mechanism really. I assume you'll find out anyway so I may as well control the information. That being said, I have to share, and since it's me, it will be shared with as many words as possible. You'll have to work for my embarrassment people.

The day before Easter (and the Easter flu) I took Lena, along with her grandparents, to the Alpen Rose Dairy for their annual Egg Hunt. Holy bejezus there were a lot of people there! There were age groups ranging from 3 to 11 with about 1,000 kids (I'm so not exaggerating!) per age group. Volunteers came out and spread about a ton of little chocolate eggs across the field. Since Lena was in the 3 year old group, I was allowed to "hunt" with her. Some of the eggs had little orange tags that could be turned in for prizes afterward. I sort of knew this, but paid no mind since it's about Lena having fun and she really doesn't need anymore crap anyway. Once they blew the whistle we all ran out to pick up eggs. Supposedly the best strategy is to run to the middle since everyone stops to pick up the eggs nearest the start. This would have been a great idea, except we couldn't get through the throng of children and parents on the ground, so like the people in front of us, we hunted where we stood. I think Lena had fun. She picked up a little slowly at first, but did alright. She was done before most of the others and stood in the field eating the eggs she happened to find. I picked up a couple more for her and we headed back. She got 2 orange tags, so we headed over to turn them in. In line, most of the parents had a big handful of tag eggs, with pretty cool prizes for a free egg hunt. I learned, as I stood there, that many of the parents had left their child who was slowly hunting eggs, to run ahead and pick up all the orange tags they could find, thereby making sure their kids had the most toys and the kids who came after had none. Generally, I'm not that competitive, and I know Lena enjoyed herself, but I was so angry at those parents! My daughter, who hunted like a 3 year old, got only a yellow plastic egg full of jellybeans and a coupon for Sharis, because selfish parents cheated and picked up their kid's prizes. Even though she certainly doesn't need it, it would have been nice if she got to go home with a stuffed bunny or a princess wand, especially since other kids went home with six.I don't know, maybe I'm wrong to even care about it, and I doubt Lena cared at all, but still...

So on the the embarrassing part.....Along with the egg hunt for kids, there is one for moms. Not parents, just moms. Like the kids hunt there are also orange tagged eggs with prizes like haircuts, massages and two sets of diamond earrings. I had not planned on hunting and I kept dithering about it. In the end I figured "what the hell" and participated. This was a stupid idea. I'm pretty sure the moms who took all the orange tagged eggs for their kids were the only ones on the field. It took less than 30 seconds once the whistle blew and only half that time for me to realize a few things: 1) I cannot run fast, 2) I hate trying to run fast, 3)If you think you see an egg in the grass DO NOT bend over to pick it up, you will be knocked down, 4) diamond earrings are not worth this crap. So in the end, I learned that "egg hunts" designed to make you humiliate yourself, will make you humiliate yourself. I did get a chocolate egg though. At least there's that.