Easter on the Road

Did you know that the Easter bunny has a kick-ass GPS system?  Yep, it seems that floppy-earred furball’s not gonna let a little thing like geography trip him up on making all his deliveries.  So if you happened to be in downtown Chattanooga on Saturday night and wondered why an overgrown rabbit was lurking around the Sheraton, don’t get your Peeps all in a bunch over it.  He was simply making a very special stop for two little shorties super duper early on Easter morning.

In hindsight, it would’ve really helped the Head Hare out if I’d thought to bring all the Easter goodies with us when we left for our week-long road trip to Florida, but we all know what hindsight is — a crockpot full of crap.  Naturally, I forgot all about grabbing the stash in the mad rush to get out of the house and onto the road.  So, by the time we finally stopped for the night in Tennessee on our return trip home, we realized that we were twelve eggs short of a dozen.  I sent my husband out to the nearest Walgreens after we finally got the kids to sleep, and he came back with some seriously slim pickins.  He had to beg, borrow and plead and do everything but offer the manager sexual favors in order to convince her to sell him the only remaining Easter grass in town, which just so happened to be part of their store display.  She finally obliged, so he grabbed some M&M’s, Reese’s eggs, a couple of crappy baskets and a bag of plastic eggs and raced back over to the hotel.

Realizing that we needed something else to spice up the lackluster loot, we decided to pool our money together, scrounging up as many quarters and dollar bills that we could find, and we went to work, cramming chocolates and cash into as many eggs as we possibly could.  I made the unfortunate mistake of laying down to “rest my eyes” for a few minutes, so my husband was left with the task of finding some decent hiding places for all the eggs in the hotel room.  (And for the record, a hotel room is NOT ideal for egg hunting.)

When the kids woke up the next morning, they were totally stoked to see that they hadn’t been forgotten.  They raced around picking up eggs and counting all their findings. They were amazed that the Big Bunny had still managed to track them down. That’s the great thing about kids — their little brains are so young and innocent that you can tell them just about anything and they’ll believe you.  If I could somehow squeeze them into one of these blue plastic eggs and protect them from all the REAL bullshit that’s out there in the world, I’d hippity hop to it in a heartbeat.

Graduation Day

     I can hardly believe it, but my babies are graduating from kindergarten today!  I must’ve blinked and the time just fast-forwarded six years. People have always forewarned me that kids grow up way too fast, and that has never felt more true than today.

     Throughout this whole school year, I’ve thought about how nice it would be for them to be in school all day, instead of just the quick two and a half hours that they’re there now.  I’ve thought about how lunchtime is such a frustrating and chaotic experience on most days. And, I’ve thought about how much I’d love to have time to myself in the afternoons.  Now, I’m suddenly realizing that I’m most certainly going to miss talking to them about their day at lunch, and that my afternoons are going to be a little lonely without their sweet little faces and funny little remarks.  Quite simply, I’m going to miss the little boogers.

     I’m also realizing how little by little, they are becoming less dependent on me, which isn’t necessarily such a bad thing.  However, I know that the more time they spend away from me, the more time they have to be influenced by others.  I cannot control what their little ears hear from their friends at school.  Some of the things they’ve picked up from others even this year makes me grit my teeth.  They are so innocent and naive right now, and it makes me sad to think about that purity slipping away.  

     I just wish I could preserve all the things that I love about this age — if I could just bottle it up and save it forever.  Right now, they love being with me more than anyone in this world.  They are always telling me they love me and giving me hugs and kisses.  They believe pretty much everything I tell them.  They constantly make me laugh with all the goofy stories that come out of their mouths.  They truly are my favorite two people on this earth.

     So, given my current emotional state, I’m not quite sure how I’m going to make it through this graduation “ceremony” this morning. I’ve got a giant lump in my throat and a waterfall ready to spill from my eyes at any moment.  Stay tuned, because if I can see through my tears to type, I’ll post another entry about the big event later this afternoon.  Bring on the Kleenex….